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by outSide.castle
Summary: Meet Tenaya, a feisty girl looking for new beginnings At Seigaku High, Japan. When she befriends Ryoma, the tennis prodigy, old memories resurface, and soon they are both faced with a decision neither of them thought they'd have to make. [RyomaXOC]
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, so don't sue…you wouldn't get any money anyway.

a/n: The prologue is written in 2nd person, since it's more of an "information" chapter than anything. Later chapters will switch between 1st and 3rd person.

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Prologue

"Ughh…" You groan as you collapse onto your bed. What a way to start the week. You were 14 and in 8th grade, but your mom still liked to make decisions for you. You didn't know if what you were doing could be qualified as complaining, because deep down, half of you was really excited about going to Japan for the next couple of months, but the other half was mad at your mom, and scared about leaving America. But whether you wanted to or not, you were leaving in two days and that was final.

Your name is Tenaya Rialles, and you lived in a 4-room house in Palo Alto. You lived with your mother, 16 year old brother Carter, 12 year old sister Joan, and your white colored German Shepherd, Hikari. You were part Japanese, and part Canadian, your mom being Japanese and your father from Canada. Your father died when you were eleven, so that left you and your siblings to your mom. You had jet-black hair like your mom, but over time, you had gotten some natural high-lights that were medium brown like your dad's hair color. Your hair reached your waist and was straight and layered, and you often had to fight your mom to keep it that long. You definitely got your eyes from your father; big, and gray with thick, long lashes. You weren't tall or short for your age, and was actually very pretty, but it didn't make you fit in. Your community was very uptight and strict, and didn't hide their disgust at half bloods like you and your siblings. The only people who showed any interest in you at all were horny guys who you usually knocked out in one punch. (Damn them, they pissed you off.)

You were extremely close with your brother, who, by the way, you thought was super hot and should have a girlfriend. Of course, there was nothing more between you guys than sibling love. But he was always too busy for dating. Carter had dark brown hair and chocolate eyes, wore glasses (sometimes contacts) and was also the top student at your school. Carter was a lot taller than you and somehow managed to stay smart and gook-looking. He always commented on your looks too. He said that you should were more tight clothes to show off your figure, but you'd take comfy-ness over curves any day.

Your little sister, Joan, was also extremely pretty, but was too occupied with her sports to notice guys. At the age of twelve, Joan was at the best player on her elementary school basketball team and volleyball team, played in the baseball little league, and was definitely the most athletic of you all. Of course, you and your brother had played sports as well, and you were actually awesome at it, and so was your brother, but you weren't kick-ass like Joan. Her favorite sport was volleyball, and your brother's was baseball. You particularly liked basketball, but your all-time fav sport was skateboarding, which technically is a sport. You have been doing it since you were 6 and were totally better than anyone you had ever met, but you didn't compete, just enjoyed the sensation of mastering moves after hard practice.

All three of you were extremely close, probably because the world outside your homes rejected you. None of you ever had any close friends or boyfriends or girlfriends, but none of that mattered. As long as you had somebody on your side, you would be okay. Your mother knew of your tough situations in society and was always trying to help that. That was probably the whole point of your trip to Japan, to find a place to fit in. But as you turn over to switch off the light (Hikari jumping into your bed) you can't help but wonder why she would think that the people in Japan would accept you when the people here didn't. And your last thought as you drift off to sleep is that Japan will reject you just as America did.

a/n: Wow, I can't believe I've started this fic. I'm really digging myself an early grave this time…X But never fear! I've started it, and I'm going to finish it, no matter how much blood, sweat and tears it may take. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, and comments are always welcome. Review if you'd like, but you don't have to. Flames are also tolerated since I need a little something every once in a while to keep myself in check.

And just as a note, I just finished watching the results for the finale of American Idol season 4 and Carrie won! I actually voted for Bo, but I' m, strangely, not sad or disappointed. Carrie deserved this because she has the coolest voice ever! And really straight teeth XD. I think the only reason I voted for Bo was to keep up the girl-boy-girl-boy tradition, and because I wanted a rock star idol for once (I'm so bad), but Carrie definitely earned this! Woohoo! Okay, now that I've bored you with my blabbering, hope you've enjoyed this chapter enough to check back soon for chapter 1!


	2. Jealousy

Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue. Okay? Okay.

a/n: I don't know about any of you, but when I read a story, I rarely pay attention to the author's notes. I'd like it if you read mine though. Not that I can make you if you're not reading this right now. The a/n's at the beginning of chapters won't be so important starting from chapter 2, but I often have important notices at the end of the stories. So please take the time to read them! (And I apologize ahead of time if you read the notes for announcements, and end up reading about some totally useless nonsense that I just had to put there…)

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Jealousy

I all but collapsed into the taxi, right on top of Hikari. (Yes, the dog went too.) We were finally off that damn airplane. Sitting for ten hours straight on a plane sucks way more than it sounds. The taxi started, and we were soon headed to our rented house. Apparently, my mom's best friend from college recommended the house to us, so my mom rented it, and we were on our way. I was just about to a fall asleep when my mom turned around to talk to us. "Hey kids, when we get to the house, I'll give you an hour to rest, then I want you to go explore your new school, okay?"

"Sure mom." We chorused. It was so weird, how we were halfway across the world, but still had to go to school. I didn't mind much though.

"Oh, and Tenaya? The friend of mine who recommended our house has a son your age, so he will be your "guide" for the time being. His name is Echizen Ryoma, I think. I heard that he's lived in America before so his English is pretty fluent." How come only I got a guide? "But what about Joan and Carter?" Mom smirked at me.

"Well, Echizen isn't so much your guide as your translator, and since you are the only one who refuses to learn Japanese, Joan and Carter won't need any translators."

I sighed. Japanese was the hardest language out of all the languages that I have ever tried to learn. (Which actually, isn't very many, so the bar wasn't exactly set very high.) I mean, I tried to learn some, but gave up every time I attempted it. I knew most basic words, and for some reason, I remembered "Today is Thursday." and "Have you met my wife?" very clearly but I doubted that those two sentences would get me anywhere.

We got to the house after ten more minutes, and we all lugged our baggage inside. I walked around the house a little, and chose a bedroom. The room I chose was at the end of the hallway. It was smaller than my room at home, but it had a warm, friendly feel to it. Last thing I remember was closing my door, and passing out from fatigue onto my new (not to mention super-comfy ) bed.

I woke up, and opened my eyes. "Wow, I'm in Japan…" I said to no one in particular. I looked at the clock. 11:00 A.M. Good. Enough time to take a shower and eat something before heading off to school. I figured that I'd explore my school on my own a little at lunch, then head to classes. I think the name of the school was Seigaku middle school – 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. I yawned and stretched. I wonder what a Japanese school is like…guess, I'd find out soon enough.

I pulled a towel from my suitcase and headed towards the bathroom. After figuring out how the taps worked, I jumped in and let the hot water run over my body. After showering, I felt much better, so I hopped over to my suitcase, blindly unzipped the closest one while praying that it had clothes in it. It turns out that it did, and so I pulled out the first things that I touched. After dressing, I un-wrapped the towel from my head and checked my reflection. Baggy, dark brown cargo pants, brown and white element hoodie, and black and red etnies. The comfiest outfit ever and not bad-looking either. I hung up my towel and got started on brushing my hair. I took about twenty-frickin minutes, so when I was done, it was already about time to go. I never blow-dried my hair anyway, because it made my hair all frizzy. But now I didn't have time for lunch. Whatever. I'll just make a sandwich and eat it on the way there. I ran over to the kitchen, literally threw a ham sandwich with mayo together and headed for the door. I stopped quickly to ask my mom for directions, then made my way towards Seigaku middle school. I brought a backpack, but hoped that they'd have a place for me to put my skateboard.

"Aah, this feels so good…" I said out loud. Skateboarding with my hair wet always felt awesome. Because my hair was wet, it was too heavy to get blown into my face, but just light enough for it to trail lightly after me. And the cool wind whistling past my ears never failed to give me a clean and cool feeling, a feeling I loved.

I was only about halfway through my sandwich when I reached the school. The students were obviously still in class, because the campus was completely deserted. I crammed the rest of my sandwich into my mouth, and hopped off my skateboard, prepared to take a quick stroll around the school grounds. The front of the school had gynormous (don't care if it's not a word…it is now.) gates, and the main building was huge, definitely a lot bigger than my old school. I wandered around and eventually reached the back of the school, where I could see a bunch of tennis courts. And to my surprise, next to the tennis courts, there were some skate ramps. "Awesome!" I smiled. "My school didn't even have a basketball court, and this place had skate ramps. How cool is that?" I was definitely planning on checking those ramps out later. But now, I had to go to the office and find my classes.

When I reached the main building, I pulled open the doors, and stepped in. I gasped. Okay…this was definitely not a school, it looked more like a government building or something! It was even bigger on the inside. I made my way to what looked like the office and walked in. I handed a note from my mom to one of the ladies working there. It was in Japanese, so I wasn't really sure of what it said, but my mom said that the note explained that I couldn't speak Japanese (and she just had to add a snicker at this part), and told the office to make my schedule the same as Echizen Ryoma's so that he could show me around. Jeez, my mom never tired of making fun of me, and always treated me like a six-year old. And it never failed to amuse her when she could point out the fact that I was half Japanese and couldn't speak the language. Guess fussing over me was her job. But she still made an overly large deal out of it. I mean, I could live in Japan without knowing how to speak their language, couldn't I?

I sweat-dropped as I accepted my schedule form the office lady. Hmm…better not try it. I figured that I'd have to ask this Echizen guy later about where to put my skateboard, but until then, I just had to carry it around with me. (It's quite heavy, really) "

"Lets see…" I looked down at my schedule. Lunch was right before fifth period, so I assumed that fourth period was where I was suppose to be right now. My schedule read:

4th period – English – Classroom D12 – Mrs. Saikoro

Alright! I smiled. This was probably going to be the only class where I knew what was going on. Oh, and maybe P.E. I looked around. Where the hell is D12? I spotted D11, and trotted towards that direction. Sure enough, D12 was right next to it. "Yes! Found it!" I say as I open the door and step in. Now, I could hear people talking and yelling before I opened the door, but as soon as I walked in, it was as if someone had pressed pause. I narrowed my eyes at the class. "What?" I said, perhaps a little rudely (oops). Mrs. Saikoro was the first to move. "Hello." She smiled.

I walked up to her. "Hi." I returned.

"Are you the new student from America?" She asked. Her English was fluent, but you could tell that it was definitely not her first language since she still had kind of a Japanese accent.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Sorry about coming in in the middle of your class. My plane just arrived this morning."

She smiled again. "Oh, it's okay. Would you mind telling us a little about yourself?"

I blinked. "In Japanese?"

She thought for a second. "No, this is an English class, I'd prefer you do it in English."

Not that I could do it in any other language. Well I could speak a little bit of Spanish, but that would be even worse.

"Plus, I want to see how well my class understands you, so please don't speak too quickly." She added, and with this, she turned towards her students. "Class, this is the new student from America. After she tells you a little about herself, I'm going to give you a quiz on what she said, okay?"

I sighed and turned toward the class. Public speaking wasn't my thing. I wasn't afraid of it; I just found it boring and pointless, and never bothered to get good at it. "Hi. I'm Tenaya Rialles, and I came from America to stay here for a couple of months. Umm...I'm thirteen…I am a Sagittarius, and…uh…I hate math."

Silence.

Mrs. Saikoro smiled. (She smiled a lot, it was kind of creepy.) "Anything else?"

I thought for a sec. "Nope. Oh! Wait, " I held up my skateboard. "I'm getting really tired of lugging this around so I was wondering if someone could show me where to put it." Mrs. Saikoro blinked at me for a second, then turned around to look at the clock. "Well, there's only five minutes until lunch, so you can put your skateboard away then, in your locker. For now, why don't I show you to your seat?"

"Ok." I shrugged. The teacher took my schedule from me and flipped it over. After a moment, she looked up. "The office secretary wrote me a note saying that Ryoma Echizen was to be showing you around, so why don't I just seat you next to him?"

I shrugged again. Mrs. Saikoro pointed toward the back of the classroom. "Echizen-san is the one sitting in the back with the black hair (which is actually a very vague description since almost all Asian people had black hair, but hey, who I'm I to criticize?) The desk next to him will be yours."

I nodded and headed down one of the aisles to my seat. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. They were probably wondering if I died my hair or wore color contacts. It never changed, I thought with a sigh. As soon as I got to my seat, I sat down and dropped my skateboard with a loud "bang!", which for some reason, made everyone start minding their own business again. God, I could feel a headache coming on this second. Probably lack of sleep (I couldn't sleep a wink on the damn plane.) or maybe I was just allergic to flying or something. Either way, that slight headache was becoming a full throbbing now. "Airplanes suck!" I said, and rested my forehead on the cool metal desk with a groan.

"I agree," came a voice from my left. I looked up. There was a boy with longish black hair and dark brown eyes, no doubt Echizen Ryoma.

"Ughh, I've never been on one before today. And personally, I can think of so many better ways to spend 500 bucks."

The guy to my left smiled and held out his hand. "Echizen Ryoma, you're the daughter of my mom's friend right?"

I nodded and stuck out my hand to shake his. "Yup, Tenaya Rialles and you're the dude showing me around?"

He nodded. "Mm-hmm." The bell rang. "Come on, I'll show you where to put your stuff. Do you have a lunch?"

I stood up and followed after him. "Nope, already ate."

Narrator's POV

Sakuno Ryuuzaki and Tomoka Meki watched as the new girl sat down next to Echizen. Tomo turned around to whisper to Sakuno. "She looks evil with those gray eyes. I think we should keep Ryoma-sama away from her."

Sakuno smiled. "Don't jump to conclusions Tomo-chan. For all we know, she could be really nice. Plus, she doesn't know Japanese right? And Ryoma-kun's English _is_ the best in the class, right?"

Tomo glanced back at where Echizen and Tenaya were chatting. "Yeah, but we have to be careful. Look at how friendly they seem already, and Ryoma-sama usually never talks to anybody. She might steal him away from us because you have to admit, she is really pretty," Tomo lowered her voice. "In a freaky way though, because those gray eyes still freak me out."

The lunch bell rang then. Sakuno sighed as she picked up her books and followed Tomo out of the classroom. Usually, Tomo-chan overreacted when it came to Ryoma-kun, but this time, she couldn't help but think that Tomo had a point. Ryoma-kun had always been a quiet person who keeps to himself, but today, he's probably said more words to this Tenaya person than he had ever said to her in her whole life. Usually, Sakuno liked to think of everyone as innocent until proven guilty, but at this second, seeing the new girl and Ryoma-kun talk like old friends, she could feel that green monster of jealousy inside her start to raise its ugly head.

a/n: Hope this chapter was satisfactory for a first one. I've written all the way up to about chapter 9 in my notebook, and I've typed up 6 chapters already. But proofreading must be done, so check back at least once a week for updates! But after I finish posting all the chapters I've written, I think it's safe to say that the updating will slow down quite a bit. School takes up most of my time, not to mention piano, and I write pretty slow. So if any of you review, I'd like you to include whether or not you'd like the chapters to be updated slower but longer, or if you'd like them updated more frequently but with shorter chapters! Constructive criticism, comments, and flames are all welcome.


	3. Escape

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Escape

Tenaya followed after Echizen as he walked towards the lockers. He then showed her her locker and combination and waited until she finished putting away her stuff. Then, they headed to lunch.

"So where do you live?" Tenaya asked.

"Well, you know the house you've rented? I live a couple of houses down."

Tenaya smiled. "Cool, so I can walk home with you," she said as she pushed open the school's front doors. "Do you always eat outside?"

"Only when the weather's nice." They reached a tree, and sat down in its comfortable shade. Tenaya lay down on her back. "It feels so nice being somewhere that isn't paved for once." She thought of her old school, and its concrete-everything's. Felt like a jail cell. Meanwhile, Echizen was eating out of his bento box quietly. It gave him some time to think. Why did this girl make him feel this way? He had always been quiet and moody, but for some reason, she made him feel at ease, and (hard to believe it) talkative. Those cool gray eyes of hers were what caught his attention, and hey easygoing attitude made him feel comfortable in her presence. But while this feeling was a nice change in some ways, it was also a little troubling. Surely, it was strange to have this girl

affect him this much. He wasn't sure if she could be trusted or not, and he

was definitely not falling for anything. "Guess I just have to wait and see," he thought.

Tenaya sat up, looked over at Echizen for a second, and then stood up, brushing her pants off. "I think I'll go now." She said. Because his mouth was currently stuffed with food, he just gave her a look. She smiled and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "I just wanted to say thanks for showing me around so far, but right now, I feel like I should go. You kinda strike me as a quiet guy, and I just have a feeling that I'm disrupting something. So I'll go explore this place a little myself and leave you in peace." She turned and ran towards the main building. "Later!" She called.

Tenaya's POV

"Bet he's glad to be rid of me..." I mutter as I walk down the corridor towards my locker. I was so used to people making up excuses to get away from me, that pretty soon, I just saved them the trouble and left myself. Even though Echizen didn't seem to despise me that much, I wasn't taking any chances. "Plus, there's something I really want to do." I thought with a smile. I reach my locker and pull out my skateboard, and head towards the skate ramps. People stare at me as I make a failing attempt to keep my skateboard hidden but eventually give up. As I reach the ramps, I sigh. It was obvious that nobody used these ramps, judging by how thick the layer of dust was. "Oh well, dust never hurt anyone." I say as I head to the top of one of their bigger ramps. Adrenaline courses through me as I fly down the arch, meet the other side, and fall back down again. At least I had skateboarding no matter where I went. I performed a couple of simple ollies and marveled at how the feeling of wind in my hair could calm me down no matter what. I skate everywhere, flying down the ramps and performing tricks on flat land. I don't know how long I was skating for but the bell soon rang, signaling the end at the luch period.

"Crap."

I hop off my board, pick it up and head back to class. Those fifteen minutes of bliss were great while they lasted, but now, it was time for reality.

Narrator's POV

Echizen headed for the main building a couple minutes before lunch ended. Good thing he had already shown Tenaya where her next class was, because she was no where to be found right now. His thoughts are interrupted though, as he hears banging and scraping by the tennis courts. He decided to ignore it, had to go find that girl...

Echizen sat down in math, a minute or so before class was scheduled to start. Where the hell did she go? His mom made it clear to him this morning to keep an eye on her at all times, and make sure she didn't get lost. But without even giving him time to respond, she ran off at lunch and he hadn't seen her since. Maybe she was playing hooky? But his doubts vanish as he sees Tenaya literally half fly and half fall into the classroom just as the bell signaling the beginning of class rang. He watched her curiously as she made her way to the desk next to him. She seemed out of breath as she slumped into her chair, yet had a discreet smile on her face. But that smile faded immediately as she looked up at the board. "Aww, I hate math!" She groaned. Echizen turned to face her.

"So where did you run off to?"

She smiled again. "Oh, somewhere," she said with a hint of amusement in her voice. Echizen decided not to pry as the teacher began his lecture.

Math went by pretty fast, but not fast enough for Tenaya. She was given a test by the teacher to see where she was, and if she was behind or ahead. Echizen watched amusedly at her muttering every 10 seconds about "damn polynomials" and "cursed linear equations". His mom told him that the only reason she was accepted into Seigaku in the middle of the year was because of her excellent grades, but at this moment, watching her pull her hair out over #3, he wondered if this was the wrong person. But it turns out, Echizen shouldn't have doubted her, because when the teacher handed her test back, she had gotten a 96 on it. He stared at her in shock as she flashed a satisfactory grin, slipped the test into her backpack, and stood up as the dismissal bell rang. Echizen also gathered his stuff and walked out.

"Looked like you really needed help back there, it's pretty surprising that you got a 96." He said.

Tenaya grinned. "Hey, you may not think it, but cursing and tugging my hair out helps me concentrate. P.E next right?"

Echizen nodded. Quickly, he explained the P.E uniform: gray shirt, black shorts, and for cold weather, gray sweater and sweats. After Echizen explained this to Tenaya, he asked the P.E teacher for the clothes, handed them to Tenaya, and directed her to the girl's locker room. "Thanks." She said, and flashed a grateful smile before disappearing to change.

20 minutes later, the P.E. class had finished stretching, and was now getting ready to play a game of basketball. The class was split into 4 teams. 2 girl teams playing each other, and 2 boy teams playing each other. As the games started, Echizen couldn't help but glance over to where the girls were playing. Tenaya was really good at basketball. Even though she wasn't the tallest player, she was still obviously one of the best. Her graceful speed allowed her to steal the ball from any opponent and score another 2 points, before anyone could notice. Echizen, on the other had, was hopeless, he was so short, that the other team members rarely noticed him. He had once been pretty good at it, but the many years of not playing were taking their toll.

At the end of the period, Tenaya's team won 49 to 28, Tenaya making 31 of the points, and Echizen's team won too, but only by 2 points, 47-45, and Echizen only making 2 points, both foul shots too. The class trudged to the showers, most of them too exhausted to move. As Echizen started to change, he couldn't help but overhear the conversation between a couple of his classmates.

"Dude, did you see that new girl? She was totally hot, man!"

"You mean the chick with the long hair who was, like, kicking ass in basketball?"

"Yeah! Man, hot and athletic, heard she was really smart too. Dang! I hope she doesn't have a boyfriend yet, cuz I totally have a chance with her!"

"Yeah right! Keep dreamin. She is so totally not gonna go for you."

"Wanna bet? She'll be head over heels in love with me if I started talking to her."

"Oh yeah? Well let's see then. Go up to her after class."

"Alright I will. Just don't get jealous when she comes begging to be my girlfriend!"

Tenaya's POV

"Where is this Echizen dude?" I thought. I had scrambled out of the girls' locker room as soon as I could. Jeez, did all those girls bathe in perfume?

Basketball had been fun. I had felt a lot better as soon as I started playing, and I got plenty of good exercise too. My thoughts were cut short as a group of boys burst out from their locker room. I looked for Echizen among them, but he wasn't there. I sighed, and leaned against the wall of the gym, closing my eyes. That headache was coming back.

Narrator's POV

Echizen frowned as he tied his shoes. Those two guys talking were Daisuki and Genma, the two most popular guys in the eight grade. Girls all over the place were constantly drooling over them. This was gonna suck, he thought. Tenaya would probably talk nonstop about them after this.

Outside, Daisuki and Genma were approaching Tenaya. They stopped in from of her and saw that her eyes were closed. They were going to say something to get her attention when her grey eyes shot open. She just stared at the two guys, who were trying to find something to say, but for some reason, those eyes just seemed to paralyze them, and it was a minute before Daisuki broke the silence.

"So, are you new?" He smiled.

Tenaya tried not to sound too rude when she said "Duh."

Daisuki's smile wavered. "Um, so what's your name?"

Tenaya closed her eyes again, obviously labeling them as too dull to waste eyesight on. "Tenaya Rialles." She tried hard to keep from wrinkling her nose. Obviously, the guys here bathed in perfume too, or rather, cologne. Maybe if she ignored them, they'd go away.

Daisuki gained a little more courage, now that her eyes were closed. "That's a pretty name. Kinda uncommon though, where are you from?"

Nope, she sighed, still there. "I just came from America."

"My name is Daisuki and this is Genma."

"Pleasure." She mumbled. God where was Ryoma? She opened her eyes, and searched for him again. He had just come out of the lockers. Finally. She started towards him. "Oh. Gotta go. See ya." She called to the two guys behind her. She smiled when she reached Ryoma. "Thank god. Those two guys back there were boring the hell out of me. If I hadn't met you already, I'd think all of the guys here were that stupid." He looked at her with a mildly surprised look on his face. So far, she was the first girl he had ever met who didn't fall for Daisuki and Genma's good looks. It was nice to see that somebody had some sense after all.

"So, ready to go?" Echizen shrugged his backpack on.

She nodded. "Mm-hmm. Just let me go get my skateboard." Together, they walked towards the lockers.

Meanwhile, back in the gym, Daisuki narrowed his eyes at Tenaya's retreating figure, and tried hard to ignore Genma, who was rolling on the floor laughing at him. Daisuki could feel his blood boil. No one had ever made a fool out of him like that. Who did she think she was? But on the other hand, he couldn't help but think that Tenaya's "screw-it" attitude made her hotter than ever. Plus, he was always up to a challenge. "So, going for shorty there are we?" What was so good about Ryoma? So what if he played tennis? He was still a little snot. He had always despised Ryoma. Daisuki was more poplular than him but only barely. And that little punk didn't even have to try to maintain his social status, unlike himself who was constantly flirting his butt off just to keep the girls swooning. But he was not getting Tenaya. He would make her realize that she was wasting her time on wimps like Ryoma.

a/n: Whew, second chapter done with! And I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes I may make, I proofread very quickly and often skip stuff. I really wish I could get some more comments on my story though, nobody seems to be reviewing. sigh But I'll keep writing this story, even if nobody out there like it! So once again, comments, constructive criticism, and flames…all welcome.


	4. Meeting the Family

Diclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis and it's characters, but Tenaya is all mine! All mine to do whatever I want to with! Muhahaha…

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Meeting the family

The first half of the walk home was spent in silence. Echizen walked slowly, backpack over one shoulder, hands in his pockets, and his mind in thought. He looked at the girl in front of him, about 10 meters away, standing there holding her skateboard with an expression on her face that clearly said that she was itching to yell "Hurry the hell up!". Echizen smiled and quickened his pace slightly.

So far, the routine for Tenaya when she walked home was skate, stop, wait until Echizen caught up, and repeat. It was getting a little tiring, so she decided to walk with him.

"You should meet my family. My brother would probably really like you." She said as he finally caught up. It was true. Carter liked to annoy the hell out of her too.

"You have a brother?"

Tenaya nodded. "Yep. A sister too. But Joan's younger than me. She's 12, Carter's 16. Both are super annoying."

Echizen pushed his bangs out of his eyes. "I wouldn't know. It's just me, my parents, and my cat Karupin."

Tenaya looked up. "Oh cool. You have a cat? I have a dog. Hikari."

Echizen inwardly shuddered. He didn't really like dogs all that much. Unfortunately, Tenaya caught him cringing. She faked a gasp. "What! You don't like dogs? They are the best ever!" She chuckled. "I think it's kinda funny that you're afraid of them."

"I am not!"

"Oh, sure..."

"Fine. Think what you like."

"I will."

There was a pause when neither of them said anything, just focused on the road ahead.

"You gotta admit it's funny though."

Echizen sighed and gave up. This girl was so weird. So unlike any other girl he'd met before. Every girl he knew just giggled and shrieked all the time. And they were always fixing their makeup. What was up with that? Jeez. None of them did much sports either. Probably too afraid that they'd break a nail.

Tenaya's voice cut through his thoughts. "Oh yeah! Didn't you play some sport for the school?" What a coincidence that they were both thinking about sports... "Oh damn. What was it? Wait! Don't tell me! Umm..." Her voice trailed off as she concentrated. Then a second later, for some odd reason, she burst out laughing. Echizen looked confused. "What?"

"Just thinking about you playing football. Ha! There's no way, but the image does make me laugh. Not basketball either, sorry, but I noticed that you weren't exactly Mr. Slam Dunk."

Echizen sighed. So what if he sucked at basketball? No one would care. "You're pretty good at it though," he thought out loud.

Tenaya smiled. "Thanks! That's really nice of you. Hmm…Kinda makes me wanna be nicer. Anyways, is it tennis?"

Echizen blinked. It took him a minute to register her question. "Actually, it is tennis. How'd you know?"

She shrugged. "Lucky guess."

"So," Tenaya hopped onto her skateboard, still keeping pace with Echizen. "You play for the school don't you? When do you practice?"

"Every day except Wednesdays." He replied.

Tenaya looked up. "Oh. So you practice tomorrow then? After school?"

Echizen nodded.

Tenaya grinned. "Are you good?"

Echizen looked a little surprised. "I don't know. Who's to judge?"

Tenaya gave him a "duh" look. "Uhh…you?"

Echizen shrugged. "I dunno. I'm okay, I guess, but I want to get better."

Tenaya thought for a second. "Hmm. You practice tomorrow after school. I don't have to do anything tomorrow." She looked up. "Mind if I come to watch?"

Echizen shook his head. "Sure, you can come, but you'll probably get bored after a while."

"Don't worry. I can always find a way to entertain myself. Plus, this way, I can get a chance to meet your team-mates, right?"

Echizen pondered this. Yep, his team-mates would probably like to meet her. They'd probably really like her too. "Do you play?" He asked her.

Her smile faded a little. "No. Not anymore. I used to though…before…" Her voice drifted off. She quickly shook herself out of her daze and smiled at him. "Don't worry about me, I just wanted to check out the famous Seigaku tennis team. Heard you guys were really good!" By this time, they had already reached her house. She skated up to the front door, Echizen following. "Thanks for walking me home." She turned around and started to head inside when she stopped. "Oh wait. You should come in and meet my mom, if you have the time."

Echizen shrugged. "Okay." Not like he had anything better to do. He followed her inside, and she closed the door behind him. "Mom! I'm home!" She yelled as she kicked her shoes off and dumped her skateboard and backpack on the floor. Echizen carefully took off his shoes and followed after her.

"Hey honey! I'm in the kitchen!"

Tenaya started heading towards the voice, Echizen trailing behind her. "Like I know where that is, I just moved here this morning." Tenaya muttered. As they reached the kitchen, Echizen saw a middle-aged woman sitting at the table, writing something. "Hey mom. This is Echizen Ryoma." She looked at all the empty boxes lying around. "Jeez mother, you unpack fast. Oh! Food!" She said, leaping for the candy jar.

Her mother looked up. "Oh hi Ryoma-kun! It's very nice to meet you! Tell your mother that after we've finished unpacking, we'll invite you guys over for dinner."

Echizen nodded. He looke up as Tenaya threw a lemon drop to him over her shoulder. "Candy?" He caught it and examined it before popping it into his mouth. Her mom got up and walked over to where Echizen was standing, and whispered into his ear. "And thanks for showing her around, she's really very stupid when it comes to Japanese, don't you agre-"

"I can hear you mom!"

Her mom stood up and held her hands up in front of her. "Just kidding! Okay, okay, I'm gone." She said as she backed out of the kitchen.

Echizen sighed. What a weird family.

At this moment, a white German shepherd came bounding down the stairs. Echizen gave one frightened look and ran behind the kitchen counter. Tenaya laughed and bent down to give Hikari a hug. "Oh come on! She's really friendly." He narrowed his eyes and pointed. "That thing's bigger than me!"

Tenaya snorted. "What isn't?"

Echizen glared.

"Just kidding, just kidding, no death glares please. Come here and pet her. Don't worry! She doesn't bite."

Echizen looked reproachful as he slowly inched his way over. Tenaya rolled her eyes. "Hurry it up old man!" She said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him over, placing it on Hikari's head. Echizen stood there, shocked, for a second before slowly petting Hikari's head. After a moment, he relaxed and smiled a little.

"See?" She said softly. "Isn't her fur just so soft?" Tenaya stood up after giving Hikari one last hug. "Come on! You should come meet my brother." She padded down the hallway. 

"Carter? You home?"

A voice came from the room to her left. "Yeah! Over here."

Tenaya opened the door and stepped in. Carter was typing away on his computer. Tenaya stepped up to him. "Hey nerd!"

He stood up and gave her a little hug. "Hey punk." He looked up. "Oh hey! You're Echizen Ryoma right? I'm Carter Rialles, nice to meet you." Carter walked over to where Echizen was standing and whispered in his ear. "Thanks for dealing with my little sis. She gets good grades and all, but actually, she's pretty dumb most of the ti – Ow!" She threw a pillow at him. "I'm still here you know!" She lifted up her arms and looked at the ceiling. "Jeez, is the whole world against me?"

Carter chuckled. "Hey, you know I'm just messing with you right?"

Tenaya cocked an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, whatever. Anyways, where's Joan?"

Carter resumed his typing. "Volleyball practice."

"What! We just moved halfway across the world, and she still goes to volleyball practice!"

"No, it's just that tryouts for her school team were today, so she tried and made it, that's all."

Tenaya crossed her arms. "That's just plain weird."

Echizen watched this conversation with interest. At that moment, Tenaya's mom poked her head into the room. "Hey, Ryoma-kun, are you going to stay for dinner?" Echizen looked at his watch. "No, actually, I should probably get going. Nice meeting you Carter."

Carter gave a wave. "Ditto."

Echizen started heading towards the front door, Tenaya following. "Bye Mrs. Rialles." He called out as he pulled his shoes on.

"Bye Ryoma-kun! Come back soon!"

Tenaya slipped her shoes on as well. "You don't live far right? I'll walk you home then. Hikari needs her walk anyway." She said as she clipped a leash onto Hikari's collar. "Be back in a minute mom!" She yelled before shutting the door. Together, Tenaya and Echizen walked towards his house, Hikari trotting a few feet ahead of them. Tenaya looked over at Echizen.

"Thanks for showing me around, its a big help."

Echizen shook his head. "No problem. Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow?"

Tenaya looked surprised. "Oh. Yeah, um, that would be great. What time should I be ready?"

"About 7:30."

"Okay." By this time, they had already reached Echizen's house. She walked him up the stairs and stood there as he unlocked the door.

"Bye then. See you tomorrow." He said, giving Hikari a pat on the head. "And thanks for walking me home."

She smiled, her gray eyes twinkling. "My pleasure. See ya."

a/n: Geez, I'm really updating pretty fast huh? So far, I've been able to get two chapters up today, and will probably get one more. I'm trying to post as fast as I can so that none of you lose interest in the story. Just to tell you, it's going to be pretty long, so don't count on it ending anytime soon. Anyways, hope you enjoyed chapter 3! Constructive criticism, comments, and flames all welcome.


	5. Memories

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis does not belong to me, no matter how much I want it.

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Memories

Echizen's POV

I collapsed onto my bed, Karupin purring next to me. What a strange day. My mind floated back to Tenaya and a smile escaped onto my lips. I had been wondering the whole day about that girl, and what it was about her that made me feel so comfortable in her presence. And now, I think I finally had it. It wasn't because she was pretty, I had met plenty of pretty girls, and although they weren't as drop-dead gorgeous as she was, I was sure it wasn't the sight of her that made me feel this way. It wasn't because she was nice either, partly because she wasn't nice, or at least not all of the time. Plus, a lot of nice girls still made me kind of uneasy around them. No, it was because she was real. Every single girl I had ever met would always try to be someone that they weren't, whether it was some famous actress or pop star or whatever. Wasn't anybody happy with themselves anymore? When I knew that the person I was trying to talk to was trying to be someone totally different, I just shut up, and didn't say anything.

I sighed as I ran my hand over Karupin's soft fur. Tenaya, though, was someone who didn't seem to care what others thought of her, and just acted like herself, and I welcomed this change.

Tenaya's POV

Instead of heading straight home, I decided to take Hikari for a stroll around the block. The weather was so nice, and the cool breeze every now and then felt so good that there was no way I was going back to my house to get cooped up inside. I always preferred being outdoors anyway, rain or shine, and no doubt, so did Hikari.

I drew a deep breath. Taking Hikari for walks were what I did almost everyday, and it was always a great time for me to think, especially after long days like this one. Today totally started out like shit, what with the plane ride that sapped my energy, and then the surprise math test that took quite a lot out of me. But it got better from there. Playing basketball helped me loosen up, and the walk home with Ryoma was pleasant enough.

Ryoma. At least he didn't turn out to be a wimpy geek or a total ass. And, I smiled, he sure was fun to tease. Although I made fun of his height quite a lot, I shouldn't have, because he actually was not much shorter than me, if not the same height. But compared to the other guys I'd seen today, he was a little vertically challenged. And speaking of other guys, meeting Daisuki and Genma was a total waste of 5 minutes of my life. Those two were creepy. Sure they were hot, but they were obviously total jerks. And plus, whose teeth were that white? What did they do, bleach them every night? I shuddered. It sucks that they were in my class. I'd probably be seeing a lot more of them.

I felt Hikari tugging on my leash. I looked up and saw a small park to my left. I smiled and lead her over. I searched until I found a stick, and threw it. I smiled as Hikari scrambled after it.

But something was still bothering me. It was that question that Ryoma had asked earlier. "Do you still play?"

Tennis. It's been so long since I had anything to do with that sport. But I used to love it. And maybe I still do, I don't know. I sighed as I threw the stick again for Hikari.

I used to play tennis all the time with my dad. It was just me and him. For some reason, Carter never took interest in it, and it was the only sport Joan wasn't good at, which was why she quit. But me, on the other hand, loved tennis, just like my father had. He was my partner, my opponent, my mentor, and my coach. He never had a chance to compete when he was young, so he encouraged me to do it. And I did. I won multiple district and county contests, and had even won the Regional tournament.

But during the summer when I was training for Nationals, my dad had gotten ill. Pretty soon, I had pushed tennis to the back of my mind, as my father got worse and worse every day. I paid no attention to practicing, even though the Nationals Competition drew closer and closer. Finally, the day came. On one hand, if the world was perfect, then it would be the day when I would stand, smiling on the Nationals stage, holding a gleaming 1st place trophy while cameras flashed. It would've been the day when I would stand there, feeling proud not for the prize in my hands, but for that smile that would shine through all of the flashing camera's. My dad's smile. The one that showed how proud he was to have me as a daughter. But that wasn't the case, because the world wasn't perfect, and reality always seemed to crash down on you at the hardest times. No, it was the day my dad died. They day when he had gathered up the last of his strength to whisper three last words to me. "Be a winner..."

I gasped at the tears flowing down my face. I never even noticed. I squeezed my eyes shut as more tears escaped my eyes, flying down my cheeks, and dripping off my chin. I knelt down and wrapped my arms around Hikari, soundlessly sobbing into her white fur.

But I wasn't a winner. I didn't even try. I didn't even show up at Nationals that day. I remembered spending the next few days in a trance, not eating, not talking, not crying. Reporters would bombard us wherever we went, and ask us why I gave up the chance to become the youngest tennis player ever to win Nationals. They asked why I backed out, when I obviously had a good chance at winning. My mother told them that I was sick that day, but that wasn't true. I was a coward.

Blinded by my own pain, taking the easy way out instead of granting my father's last wish. And I hated myself for it.

I held Hikari tighter to me, and felt her warm tongue on my cheeks. But the tears that she licked away were quickly replaced.

Even since then, I had never even touched a tennis racket. Everything having to do with tennis hurt me too much. But I was tired. So tired of running away. I sighed and started heading home, Hikari following closely after me. And I decided that the first step to facing the facts, no matter how painful it was, was to start having tennis in my life again. And going to watch Ryoma's tennis practice tomorrow was going to do just that.

I walked around the block once more, the whole time with my hands in my pockets, and my gaze on the sidewalk. Usually, when we took walks, Hikari would trot ahead, sniffing and exploring everything. But today, she trotted at my side the whole time, constantly glancing up at me with a look that I could only describe as worried. I smiled and gave her ears a good scratch. I loved how Hikari always acted like it was her responsibility to take care of me, to make sure I was okay. After all, she was the only one who truly understood my feelings. She was the only one with me when my dad died. Just me, him, and Hikari. But I pushed that thought to the back of my head as I approached my house. I would have to save that story for some other day, because right now, I was all out of tears.

After giving Hikari some food, I decided to unpack my suitcases. And after I was done tidying up, I went and helped Carter with dinner. Usually, Carter made the meals, but I helped out whenever I could, and was the one who cooked when Carter wasn't there. Carter and I were the only ones who inherited my dad's culinary skills. Of course, neither of us were as good as our dad, but people still thought our food was really good. I did feel sorry for Joan, who got her cooking skills from my mom, which was none at all. I shuddered, just thinking about that one time when Carter and I had the flu, and mom and Joan had to cook. Joan got quite upset when I mistook the scrambled eggs she made for badly burnt toast.

I smiled as I handed the chopped onions to Carter and began peeling potatoes. And when my mom tried to make us some chicken soup, and heated it in the microwave without taking it out of the can first, and ended up blowing up half our kitchen. "Ah," I sighed. "Good times."

Carter called Mom and Joan, who just got back from volleyball practice, to dinner while I placed the macaroni and cheese and French fries on the table. We were Japanese, and in Japan, but seriously, how much more American could our dinner get?

After dinner, it was only about 8:00 PM, but I was so exhausted that I decided to just go to sleep. After all, the last time I had really slept was more than 20 hours ago. I collapsed onto my bed and just lay there for a while. After gathering enough strength to change into my PJ's,

I pulled my Zen micro mp3 player out of my backpack, and turned it on.

About 10 minutes later, when I was almost asleep, I felt Hikari hurl her 90 pound self right onto my legs, and I woke with a start. But I let her stay there, partly because I was too lazy to kick her off. Hikari usually slept with me, because Carter didn't have enough room on his twin bed, and Joan would thrash around so much in her sleep, that Hikari always wound up on the floor. I sighed and relaxed, and turned the volume down on my mp3 player, and set it to turn off in 10 minutes. At least Hikari kept my feet warm. I thought about what the next day would bring, but pretty soon I fell asleep, listening to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

a/n: Yay, another chapter up! I'm on a roll here. Although I shouldn't be, and I should technically be practicing my piano right now… -.-

Sorry if this chapter was a little cheesy. I really had to express just how she felt about her dad's death.

Anyways, please read, review if you'd like. Flames welcome.


	6. Tears

Disclaimer: No own, no sue. (Wow that was fast.)

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Tears

At exactly 6:30 AM the next morning, my alarm went off. But my alarm was also my radio, and currently it was on a sports channel. I blinked the drowsiness from my eyes as I heard the host commentating on the Kings vs. the Warriors game. I yawned and slowly sat up, giving Hikari a little wake-up nudge with my foot. I sat there for a while, listening to the radio. I always listened to sports in the morning, it was a habit, and now I was never fully awake until I heard a sports announcement. I switched the radio off as soon as I heard that the Kings had won, 189-177.

"Well, that, if anything, had to be a good way to start the day." I thought. My favorite team had won!

After taking a shower, I opened my closet and pulled out some clothes. I put on a plain blue spaghetti strap tank top, and over that I pulled on a black hoodie that said "skateboarding is not a crime" in white on the front. Then, I slipped on a pair of baggy black cargo pants, and the same black etnies as yesterday, except I pulled out the red laces, and replaced them with thicker white ones. Then I started my daily war with my hair.

Narrator's POV

Ryoma stopped before Tenaya's house, and peered down at his digital watch. 7:25 AM. Oh well, so what if he was a little early, he thought as he rang the doorbell. Carter answered the door, waffle in one hand, and motioned for him to come in. After Ryoma set his backpack and tennis bag down, he slipped his hands into his pants pockets, and followed Carter into the kitchen. He greeted Mrs. Rialles, and introduced himself to Joan. "Tenaya! Ryoma-kun's here!" She hollered, and offered Ryoma a waffle, who politely declined.

"Alright give me a sec!" A moment later, Tenaya stumbled into the kitchen, a hair tie in her mouth, and her hands pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "Sorry for making you wait," she said after securing her hair with the rubber band, even though her bangs still flopped into her eyes, and she pushed them irritably out of her face.

"It's okay." He smiled.

Tenaya glanced at the clock, which read 7:29, and grabbed a waffle. "Ugh, no time to eat with you guys, see you after school." She said, and kissed her mom on the cheek, and gave Joan and Carter simultaneous whacks on the head. "Bye!" She yelled as she grabbed her backpack and skateboard and opened the front door.

"Ready?"

Ryoma nodded and followed her out of the house. Tenaya hopped onto her skateboard. "So, what's our schedule again? I forget."

"Where'd your schedule go?"

"Uhh, I lost it?"

"Fine." Ryoma rolled his eyes. "First period, History. Second period, study

hall. Third period, science.-"

"Eww."

He gave her a look.

"Sorry, go on."

"Fourth period, English. Fifth period, math. And sixth period, P.E."

"Okay, thanks"

Tenaya looked up at the huge school as they arrived. "Ok, history first then. Just wait a sec while I put my skateboard away." But when they finished making their way through the crowded hall, all she did was stand in front of her locker, staring. Just as Echizen was about to say something, she smirked at him. "What was my combination again?"

Ryoma sighed, and rolled his eyes. As he leaned in closer to her to open her locker, a refreshing scent danced past his nose. It smelled like peaches. "There." He pulled her lock open with a resounding click.

"Thanks." She said, flashing him a grin as she stuffed her skateboard into her locker, and shut it with a loud slam. She picked up her backpack as she walked with Ryoma down the hallway towards B2, their history class. She smirked at him. "You know, you'll probably have to open my locker everyday from now on."

He gave a barely audible chuckle. "Yeah, I know."

Before either of them had a chance to say anything else, a girl with two pigtails sticking out the sides of her head sped towards them, coming to a halt before Ryoma.

"Ryoma-sama! Ryoma-sama! I am so glad to see you!" She couldn't seem to stop hopping up and down, giving Tenaya the impression of somebody who had to pee.

Ryoma gave her a look. "I just saw you yesterday."

"Yes! And that was more than...wait..." the girl gasped. "...18 hours ago!"

Tenaya brought her hand up to her mouth. "Oh! The horror!" She gasped with mock shock.

Echizen tried hard to suppress a grin.

The girl narrowed her eyes at Tenaya. "And who are you?"

Tenaya grinned. "Oh, nobody, nobody! Please! Go on with your conversation." She waved her hand at them, insisting for them to go on. "I won't interrupt again." She smiled sweetly. "I promise."

Echizen sighed. "Tomo, Tenaya. Tenaya, Tomoka." He introduced.

Tenaya bowed deeply. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Tomo sneered. "It should be."

Tenaya had to look the other way to hide her "trying-not-to-laugh-but-not-succeeding" face.

At that moment, another girl walked up. A girl with long braids, and a flower clip.

"Ryoma-kun..." She murmured in a high, strained voice. "It's good to see you looking so, um...nice today." Then she frantically held up her hands and shook her head. "Oh! I mean, uh, not that you don't look nice everyday, it's just that...um, today you look especially...uh..."

"Uh, thanks Sakuno. But we better get to class."

Sakuno quickly snapped her head up. "Oh! Right! Um, see you later Ryoma-kun!" She said as she waved at him, who was already heading down the hall with Tenaya.

"Well," Tenaya looked curiously at Ryoma, with a hint of a smirk on her lips. "It's nice to see that you have your own fan club." She glanced down the hall again at Sakuno and Tomo who were still standing there waving. "Any other members besides inflated ego girl, and miss stick-up-her-ass?"

Ryoma glared. "You think I know?"

She smiled. "Ooh, touchy aren't we?"

History passed by uneventfully. The class was told to memorize the original 13 colonies of early America, something Tenaya had done back in 4th grade. As for study hall, she never had it at her old school, so the eerie silence made her restless. So she folded a paper airplane and threw it, watching it sail over the heads of her classmates.

Tenaya gasped when she saw it collide with the side of the sleeping teacher's head, and automatically had to practically stuff her fist into her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. All the commotion that the class made when they saw the teacher jerk awake, and jump up, caused Ryoma to look up momentarily from his book. He took one glance at the teacher, who had the paper airplanes clutched in his hand and was demanding to know who threw it, and at Tenaya, who was shaking with laughter behind her book. Ryoma pieced these two together quickly and returned to his book with a sigh.

But besides that, the whole day seemed to just drag on forever, even science, where the class usually did experiments. But today, the teacher gave a boring lecture on the periodic table, and Ryoma fell asleep about halfway through. The teacher started asking questions a little while before the bell rang, and had obviously called on Ryoma because he jerked awake when he felt someone's foot come into

contact with his shin. He quickly answered the question, just as the bell rang, and hurried to catch up with Tenaya.

"You were the one who kicked me huh?"

Tenaya nodded. "Yep."

"Well, you didn't have to do it so hard." He said, rubbing his sore shin.

"Well, you wouldn't wake up the other forty million times I kicked you. Jeez

Louis, I thought you died."

"Still," he muttered. "That's gonna leave a bruise."

Tenaya's POV

I was sorta looking forward to English. Afterall, I didn't understand a word any of my other teachers said. But as I walked in, two words jumped out at me from the blackboard: POP QUIZ. Fortunately, the teacher reminded us that this was the quiz to see what the class remembered from my speech yesterday. She wrote three questions up on the board.

1. What is the new girl's full name?

2. What country is she from?

3. How tall is she?

I raised an eyebrow at her. Well, this was one hell of a quiz wasn't it? The teacher explained that I would walk around the class, and whoever finished would raise their hand and have me check the answers. She also told us not to worry, since this was all extra credit.

Some people got some pretty weird answers. Almost nobody got #1 correct, except for Ryoma. And I thought that everybody would get #2 right, but somebody put India...what the heck! And everyone just guessed on #3.

At lunch, I ate with Ryoma again under the tree. Or actually, Ryoma ate, and I just stuffed my ham sandwich in my mouth, and that only took about 2 minutes. When Ryoma had about finished, I spotted the two girls from this morning making their way over here. Tomo and Sakuno, I think it was. "Hey," I said nudging Ryoma in the ribs. "Your fan club is visiting."

He glared.

"Ryoma-sama!" Tomo quickly took a seat on the grass beside Ryoma. Sakuno also sat down, a little more hesitantly on the other side of him, while I remained seated across from him.

"Hello Ryoma-kun." Sakuno murmured.

Tomo started to look excited. "Don't you have tennis practice today!"

Ryoma nodded, quietly putting away his bento box.

Sakuno looked up. "Oh right!" I'm coming to watch today. I'm so excited because I haven't seen you practice in a while, since I have been sick."

I stared at them. They watched every one of his practices? If I were Ryoma, I'd be freaked out. I stood up and grabbed my skateboard, which I had brought along with me this time, much to Ryoma's puzzlement. "You guys have fun, kay? I'm gonna go." The two girls seemed to notice me for the first time, looked glad to see me go.

Ryoma, on the other hand, gave me a look that said "Don't you dare leave me alone with these two!" But I just smirked and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "It's okay tough stuff." I patted him on his shoulder and stood up. "You can handle it."

Ryoma's POV

I glared at Tenaya, who was already far away. Great. Just leave me here to deal with these two. Ughh, Tomo's voice was already starting to give me a head ache. So I sat there for the next ten or so minutes, listening to Tomo chatter. But I wasn't really paying attention to what she said, I was completely spaced out. I did notice that while Tomo talked nonstop, Sakuno wouldn't stop adjusting her clothes and touching her hair. She had always been a fidgety person, but today, she seemed extremely restless. I didn't mind Sakuno as much as Tomo, but whenever I was around her, it got to the point where Sakuno's nervousness made me uncomfortable as well. That's why the way Tenaya seemed to be

confident about herself, made me feel at ease too.

While my mind was still on Tenaya, I suddenly remembered something. While I thought, I realized that I had heard Tenaya's name somewhere. When I first met her, and found out that her name was Tenaya Rialles, something in my brained kind of clicked. Her name seemed familiar, and I didn't really figure it out until now. But the memory was too vague. I sighed, and decided to think about it later.

I sighed. Didn't the bell ring yet? I wanted school to be over so I could play some tennis. But even then Tomo and Sakuno would be there. Stupid Tenaya. Where does she keep running off to anyway? Just when her company would have been especially nice, she takes off. But just as I said that, I spotted her coming this way, without her skateboard. She walked slowly up to us, hand in her pockets.

"Hi guys." She said, smiling.

Tomo sneered. "I was just telling Ryoma-sama about this new tennis move that I saw in a magazine."

Oh, so that was what she was babbling on and on about.

"Well," Tenaya began, coughing a little. "I'm sorry to interrupt your

conversation, but I just remembered Ryoma mentioning earlier that he had to, uh, help out in the library, um...at lunch."

I blinked.

Tenaya raised her eyebrows at me. "Remember?" She drew out slowly.

I snapped out of my daze, suddenly understanding. "Right." I said hurriedly getting up. "Thanks for reminding me."

She smirked. "Anytime."

Tomo looked a little put-out. "Oh darn. Ok, I guess I'll see you at tennis practice then." I nodded and ran with Tenaya towards the main building.

"A little slow aren't we?" Tenaya said, once were out of earshot.

"Well, you could have come up with a better excuse than 'he has to help out at the libray'!" He mimicked as they came to a stop just insid of the main doors.

"Hey!" She put her hands on her hips. "Be grateful. Did you want to spend the rest of lunch with them?"

"Okay, okay. Thanks by the way, for getting me away from them."

She smiled. "You're welcome."

"What made you come back anyway?"

"Hmmm..." She thought for a second. "Even I'm not cruel enough to strand a poor defenseless guy-" She paused to point at me. "-like you. With that chatterbox. So I decided to come back and rescue you."

"And I'm glad you did."

Narrator's POV

Tomo and Sakuno watched as Ryoma ran off with Tenaya.

"Oh, well." Tomo sighed. "I wanted to talk to him more, but we can't stop him from helping at the library. At least we can watch him practice, right Sakuno?" She turned to face her best friend, but was surprised to see her face shining with tears.

"Sakuno!" Tomo cried, rushing over to give her a comforting hug. But Sakuno shook her off, and ran to the girl's bathroom, shutting herself in one of the stalls.

She sat down on a toilet seat and began sobbing. Why was Ryoma-kun doing this to her! Before, he had always seemed fine around her, although not friendly, but that didn't really bother her since he was never really social around anybody. But now he was trying to run away from her. She knew that Tenaya had been lying, since she had just visited the library before Tomo found her, and there was a sign on the door that read "Closed for Lunch". What broke her heart was to see Ryoma playing along. A couple days ago, Sakuno had resolved to make Ryoma like her, no matter what it took, but that girl had to come and ruin her plans! She usually got along with everybody, but she hated the fact that ever since Tenaya came, Ryoma disliked her and Tomo more and more.

"But maybe I'm overreacting." She though, rubbing her eyes. "Tenaya has only been here for two days, and I've known Ryoma-kun for over a year now, and I know he likes me, a little." She ended her thoughts with a sniffle, and exited the bathroom. She was trying her best to convince herself, but deep in her heart, she doubted what she just said.

a/n: Just to tell you guys, I will only be able to update about once a week. Since I'm at my dad's house for half the week, and at my mom's house the other week. I tend to only go on the computer at my mom's house, so I won't be able to update if I'm not.

Once again, constructive criticism, comments, and flames all welcome!


	7. Remember?

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis characters or plot line.

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Remember?

> > >

I sighed in relief as the bell rang. We had been doing wall-sits in P.E., which I hated. Even though I held it for longer than anyone else in my class, my butt and thighs still hurt like hell. I ran to the locker rooms and changed quickly, and was about to head out, when I remembered yesterday's encounter with Daisuki and Genma. So I decided to just wait in the locker room for a while. When I heard the bell ring, I ran out into the gym, and spotted Ryoma standing by himself in the corner.

"Where were you?" He asked as I approached.

"Hiding from them." I said, looking over at Daisuki and Genma, who were glaring in our direction, for some reason. Ryoma's gaze followed mine, and he smirked when he saw the object of my "fear".

"Why?" He said teasingly. "Don't you like them?"

I shuddered. "Heck no. They're creepy."

"…Creepy?" He raised an eyebrow at my choice of words.

"Well," I tried to think of a way to explain. "They just freak me out 'cause they don't remind me of real people. One look and you can just tell that they're totally fake." I looked over at Ryoma, who, surprisingly, looked like he understood what I was blabbering about. "They kinda remind me of the mannequins that you see in the mall, pretty to look at, but probably couldn't carry a conversation for crap.

"Hmm." Ryoma looked over at the objects of our debate. "You're right." He looked back at me. "So, you're coming to watch the tennis practice today, aren't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, when does it start?"

"4:00."

I looked down at my watch. 3:46. "How about I meet you there in 5 minutes? I'm gonna go get something from my lockers."

"Okay."

I frowned. "How many people are practicing today?"

"Well, on Thursdays, it's just the Regulars. 9 of us, including Inui, our manager."

"Will you introduce me to your team members?"

He shrugged. "If you want me to."

I smiled. "It'd be nice."

"Okay then. See you in 5 minutes. You know where to go, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, the tennis courts out back." I turned around and started walking the other way when I stopped. I turned around. "Hey Ryoma?"

He looked back. "What?"

I smirked. "What was my locker combination again?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "19 – 21 - 28."

"Okay thanks!" I called out as I headed down the hall to the lockers. When I got there, I entered in my combination and pulled it open. I got my skateboard out and slammed the door shut, then turned around and started heading towards the back of the school, or what I thought was the back of the school. But when I opened the door, I found myself in the school parking lot, which was definitely not in the back. I sighed and turned around, and started heading back the way I came from. But all the hallways looked the same! "Aw crap…"

Ryoma's POV

"Where the hell is she!" I thought. It was 3:55, and still, no sign of her. After she had run off to her locker, I went and changed into my tennis clothes. After changing, I bumped into Momo and told him to change fast because there was someone that I wanted to introduce to everybody. But here I am, 4 minutes before practice is supposed to start, and Tenaya was nowhere to be found! God, I sighed, that girl is so unpredictable.

"Hey Ryoma!" Momo called. "Weren't you gonna introduce someone to us?"

Kikumaru paused in the middle of his stretches. "You're introducing someone! Why didn't you say so earlier?"

I shrugged.

Kikumaru continued. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Girl." I replied.

Kikumaru looked puzzled. "Well, where is she?"

"I don't know, but she was supposed to be here about ten minutes ago."

Fuji looked up from his practice swings. "Is she a relative or something?"

"No." I replied. "She's my mom's best friend's daughter. But she's only staying in Japan for a couple of months." I picked at my racket strings. "But she doesn't speak much Japanese."

"Oh well, that's okay." Fuji said. "We've all taken English for at least four years now."

"Hey Ryoma," Momo smirked. "Is she cute?"

At that question, I could feel my face heating up a little. What kind of a question was that! I tilted my head until my hat was covering my face, so that no one would see me blush, but Kikumaru's sharp eyes still caught it. He gasped. "Aah! Ochibi's blusing! You know what that means!"

Momo smiled. "She's really pretty!"

Thankfully, Fuji intervened. "Is that her, over there?" He asked, pointing.

I looked over, and sure enough, there she was, skateboard in hand, running this way. She came to a halt in front of me, gasping a little. "So sorry!" She breathed.

I crossed my arms. "Where were you? You were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago!"

"Well," she thought for a second. "The complex format of the inner pathways of your school were clouding my sense of judgment and direction, therefore, forcing me to spend the last quarter hour, searching far and wide for the one route that would lead me to my desired destination."

We all started at her for a minute. "So," I raised my eyebrow at her incredulously. "Basically, you got lost."

She smirked. "Yeah, but I liked my version of it better."

"How the hell did you manage to get lost anyway!" I asked.

"Well, it's not my fault your school is so damn big! And no freakin' maps either!"

I sighed. This girl was beyond insane.

Narrator's POV

By the time Tenaya had finished ranting about how somebody should write to the school board about this, to nobody in particular, Tezuka Kuminitsu and Coach Ryuuzaki were walking towards the tennis courts from the main building. Tezuka let out a frustrated sigh. Why wasn't anybody practicing! They were all just standing there.

"Practice started 10 minutes ago!" He barked. "Regulars, twenty laps around the court, now!"

Moans and groans were heard as rackets were dropped and people started running. As the crowd thinned out, Tezuka spotted one person remaining. A girl he had never seen before stood there. Tezuka became curious as he and Coach Ryuuzaki approached her.

"And who are you, may I ask?" Tezuka said/

Tenaya smiled, gray eyes twinkling. "I'm Tenaya. And by the way, I'm really sorry about this. I'm a family friend of Ryoma's, and I just got here yesterday. Ryoma promised to introduce me to all of his teammates, but I came late and so we never got a chance to. So, sorry for disrupting your practice." Apologizing profusely usually wasn't her thing, but this time, it really was her fault. By this time, the Regulars had finished their laps and were laying on the ground, panting, and listening to the ongoing conversation between Tenaya and Tezuka.

"It's...alright, I guess." Tezuka replied. "You can get your introductions over with, then we'll start practice." All the team members stared. Tezuka has never, ever uttered the words "and then we'll start practice" before.

"I guess he really can't refuse pretty girls after all." Coach Ryuuzaki thought with a smirk. While the Regulars took a water break, Tenaya continued talking with Tezuka.

"So what was your name?" Tenaya asked.

"I'm Tezuka Kuminitsu, captain of the Seigaku tennis team." He replied.

"Wow," she muttered under her breath. "That's important sounding..."

"What was that?"

"Oh!" She snapped her head up and smiled. "Nothing."

He shrugged it off. "So do you play tennis?" Tezuka asked.

Tenaya hesitated before answering. "Not anymore, but I used to."

"Well, we need a coach for the girls' team."

She shrugged. "Why can't you do it?"

"It has to be a girl."

"Why?" She raised her eyebrow, and dropped her skateboard, and started playing with it with her foot. "As if a guy like you, or any guy for that matter, wouldn't want to spend hours a week watching teenage girls play tennis in miniskirts and tank tops."

"Exactly why it has to be a girl." He answered, showing just the slightest hint of a blush. "If we let a guy coach, they'll be too busy flirting to offer any advice."

"Aah. So you want me to do it."

He nodded. "But I won't just give you the job. I need to test you to see if you qualify."

"Hmm." She thought for a second. It couldn't hurt, right? "Okay, I guess."

"Good." He nodded solemnly. "I'll test you right after practice tod-"

"Oh no, not today! I didn't even bring a racket."

"Don't worry, we have spares."

"But...uh...I like my racket. And I didn't bring a change of clothes either." She added.

"Okay, then, tomorrow?"

"Um, sorry, got plans. But I'll tell you when I'm free."

He glanced warily at her. He didn't really trust her on that, but he always had time, it didn't have to be done today.

By this time, the Regulars had finished resting up, and Ryoma was motioning Tenaya over. "Do you want to meet my teammates or not?" He asked irritably.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Stop nagging."

"Well, you two get along." Said a tall boy with spiked hair.

"Yeah, I know!" She wrapped an arm around Ryoma's shoulders and squeezed tightly. "We're, like, best buddies!"

He laughed. "I'm Momoshiro Takeshi." He winked at her. "But a pretty girl like you can call me Momo."

"You tell everybody to call you Momo." Ryoma muttered.

"Uh, thanks Momo." She thought for a second. "Hey, I used to have a hamster named Momo."

"Really!" Momo's eyes widened. "It must be fate!"

Tenaya continued in a mock sad voice. "But then one day, he escaped, and apparently got a little too close to the lawn mower."

The whole team stared at her with uneasy looks on their faces.

"Next thing you know," she sighed heavily. "We were picking up parts of him and--"

"Okay! That's nice." Momo looked a little nauseous, and the rest of the team had paled.

She smiled at them and started laughing. "You guys know that I was kidding right?"

They all meekly nodded, but judging from their expressions, they still looked unconvinced.

She turned around to whisper into Ryoma's ear. "I swear, your friends have no sense of humor."

"No, yours is just a little...strange." He answered.

She shrugged. "Whatever."

"Um, welcome to Seigaku." Said another boy, probably trying to break the awkward silence. "My name is Oishi Syuichiroh, and I am the co-captain of the Seigaku tennis team, and student body council president."

"Wow." She blinked. "You must be popular."

"Um..." He blushed a little. "Kinda, I guess."

"Yeah, it's not fair! He gets all of the pretty girl's attention!" Pouted a boy with dark red hair and a bandage on his right cheek. "I'm Kikumaru Eiji!"

She smiled. "I'm Tenaya! Nice to meet you!"

Kikumaru's eyes brightened. "Wow! You're so kawaii! Especially when you smile!"

She smiled again. "Aww, thanks! But you have to know, I think you're cute too!"

Kikumaru gasped. "Did you hear that guys! She think's I'm cute!"

"Lucky." Momo whispered in his ear.

"Um, hello." Said a brown-haired boy nervously. "I'm Takashi Kawamura. It's really nice to meet you." He said.

"Nice to meet you too! You seem really nice."

He blushed. "Thank you."

Tenaya smiled and turned towards a boy with a green bandanna on his head. "Hi, I'm Tenaya."

"Kaido Kaoru." He grunted.

"Um," she bit her lip. "Nice to meet you? I think..." She said, adding the last part under her breath.

He just grunted in reply.

"Um, ok then. Moving on." She turned towards Ryoma. "And I thought you were moody."

He gave her a look.

Fuji walked over to where Tenaya and Ryoma were standing with a smile on his face (as usual). "My name is Fuji Syuusuke, but you can call me Fuji."

She smiled brightly. "Okay Fuji. I'm Tenaya, and you can call me...uh...Tenaya."

His smile grew a little wider. "How long are you staying in Japan, Tenaya?"

"2 months, I think."

"Ok, great. Because I would love to get to know you better."

She smiled and nodded. "Likewise."

"Are you guys done yet?" Came Tezuka's irritated voice.

"Oh, so sorry!" Tenaya exclaimed. "You guys should get on with practice." She turned to Ryoma. "How long will this take?"

"2 hours."

She groaned. "Okay then, see you in two."

"Are you sure you don't wanna just go home first?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."

He sighed. "Ok, fine."

She watched as Ryoma joined the rest of his teammates and began practice. She sat down on her skateboard, and rested her chin on her forearms. "Well, this was going to be interesting..."

Tenaya's POV

I slid back and forth on my skateboard and sighed. The memories just kept rushing back. For the first 30 minutes, the team practiced their serves. I was surprised at how good they were. I watched as Ryoma's graceful figure jump and hit a speed serve to the opposite corner where Momo stumbled to return it, but failed. Ace. Ryoma was a lot better than I thought, and probably the best on the whole team, save for Fuji. I had been studying them both for a while, and they seemed equally good. Ryoma relied more on agility and strength, though, where Fuji seemed to like using strategies and tactics.

This was all so...familiar. The loud "ping" of a tennis ball hitting the sweet spot, the squeaking of tennis shoes on the court. I closed my eyes, and imagined me playing tennis again in my head. On one hand, I couldn't wait to grab my racket, and just go out there and have a blast, like I used to. But the bigger half of me was reluctant to bring back memories that were better left forgotten.

I sighed and stood up. There was about an hour left of practice until it was time to go home. I walked towards the courts, and spotted Sakuno and Tomo watching Ryoma and Momo's match intensely from the sides. I decided to go talk to them. They didn't seem to like me very much, although I didn't know why. But I was determined not to make any enemies during my stay here, no matter how much they annoyed me.

"Hey guys." I said as I approached them. Tomo sneered at me, and Sakuno nodded a greeting. "Um, so..." I started. "Do you watch tennis practice often?" I said, hoping to start a conversation.

Sakuno nodded. "Everyday, if possible."

"Yeah." Tomo put her hands on her hips. "We are Ryoma's biggest fans."

"Well," I smiled. "You two sure are dedicated."

Sakuno shrugged. "I guess..."

Tomo suddenly glared at me. "And we don't need the likes of you haning around with Ryoma-sama, so stay away from him!"

"Tomo-chan!" Sakuno hissed.

I snapped. "What, do you think it was my idea for him to help me? I don't know much Japanese, only English, and Ryoma just happens to know both. Do you have a problem with him helping me out!" I stared at the two of them, who remained silent. "Whatever..." I mumbled under my breath.

So much for no enemies…

I did not have enough patience to deal with those two. Instead, I walked over to the courts and watched Ryoma play. I stared at his moves intently, trying to find any problems with his game. It was a habit that I had. Anytime I was watching a tennis game, I just automatically looked for areas of weakness. But Ryoma's footwork and tactics were almost perfect, so I had to watch extra hard to catch anything. He was winning 4-2, but there _had_ to be something that made him lose those two set points.

About 10 minutes later, I had figured it out. Being a left-handed player, Ryoma's left side was obviously the stronger side. Therefore, making him rely more on his forehand than his backhand. So everytime that Ryoma ran to hit a shot, when he recovered, he always ran to a point just left of the middle mark, leaving the right side of the court open. If Momo had noticed this, he would probably be winning, but the fault was so minute, that it was hard to notice. I smiled. Well, I had figured it out, and would keep it in mind if I ever had to play Ryoma.

Ryoma match ended about 20 minutes later, and so did practice. As Ryoma and I walked home together, I couldn't stop my mind from wandering to my dad. I thought about him, and what it would be like if he was here. He wouldn't have backed down from a challenge, and would have just grabbed his racket and ran out there at the first chance. I sighed. Well, I wasn't him.

I bid Ryoma farewell as we reached my house, and went in. After eating dinner, I was so tired that I just went straight to bed. Maybe I shouldn't have watched Ryoma's tennis practice today, because the conflicting emotions inside me were driving me crazy. To play or not to play. To risk painful scars re-surfacing just to try to have a little fun again. But maybe, it would be worth it...

Ryoma's POV

I knocked on Tenaya's door the next day, at 7:30 sharp, and was surprised to see Tenaya answer the door, backpack and skateboard in hand.

"Ready?" I asked. She only nodded. I was a little worried, to tell the truth. She hadn't said a word since practice yesterday, except when she said goodbye. It was strange for her to be this unusually quiet, and it was kind of offsetting me. I watched as she skated in front of me. She glided back and forth on the pavement, with sort of a liquid kind of grace. She did it almost effortlessly and had her hands in her pockets and was deep in thought. I decided not to pry into her business. She would tell me what was bothering her if she wanted to.

Ok, I was really worried now. I was stretching for tennis practice, and Tenaya was sitting off at the sidelines and had a regretful, almost sad look in her usually cheerful gray eyes.

She had been quiet the whole day. She even remembered her locker combination, and she never said more than a word in any of her classes.

And throughout the whole practice, she just sat there unmoving, and she walked home this time instead of riding her skateboard. I watched her as she walked.

"Um, are you okay?" I asked hesitantly. She didn't say anything for a while, and just when I decided that she wasn't going to answer, she replied softly. "I...don't know." She said, voice barely a whisper. She was looking at the ground, and her long hair hung down, covering her face.

"Well, you know that whatever it is, you can always tell me. I'm not really sure if I could help though…" I said.

She smiled at me. "Yeah, I know. But I'm okay. Really."

"Well, tomorrow's Saturday." I said after a while.

She looked up at the sky and smiled softly. "Yeah."

I walked the rest of the way in silence, glancing up every now and then at Tenaya. As we reached her house, Tenaya stopped and turned to face me, and we just stood there for a while.

"Thanks." I looked up to see her smiling softly at me, before she turned and walked up the stairs and into her house. I sighed and continued walking. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I was sure that I saw a tear, rolling silently down her face.

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a/n: Once again, I am updating as fast as I can, so please don't push. I will post a chapter as soon as I finish with it, so don't worry. Nothing much else to say…constructive criticism, comments, and flames all welcome! (God, I get tired of saying that everytime…)

Shells1: Thanks for reviewing! And Tenaya speaks in English to everybody, throughout the whole story. Most people understand it because almost all Japanese students take English, so they know just enough to be able to have a conversation with her. And yes, I do get extremely tired of RyoSaku. That's why I decided to make my own character! Thanks again, and enjoy!

RuByMoOn17: I myself was getting tired of the shounen-ai pairings, and the only non yaoi stories had Sakuno in them, which I didn't like either. Sakuno is a little too whiny for my taste…which is why I made Tenaya the way she is! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoy!


	8. Running

Disclaimer: I don't own POT and the plotline. Unfortunately.

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Running

Narrator's POV

Tenaya took a deep breath as she skated down the street towards Ryoma's house. It was 10:00 A.M. on a Saturday, and she felt great. The day before was...a thinking day for her, and she was back to her lively self today. She skidded to a halt in front of Ryoma's house and knocked on the door. A minute later, a very sleepy looking Ryoma answered the door.

"Whaddya want?" He said, trying to stifle a big yawn and failing.

"I'm not gonna let you sleep in on a day like this!" She smiled brightly. "Get out here."

"It's a great day to sleep..." He mumbled.

"Lazy bum. I'll give you 3 minutes."

"...Fine." He rubbed his eyes, and headed back upstairs to change. Normally, he would have refused, but he was so relieved to see Tenaya back to her old self, that he agreed.

A few minutes later, he appeared at the bottom of the stairs in a T-shirt and shorts, but no hat this time. "So, where do you want to go?"

Tenaya smiled and pointed at him. "You're gonna show me around town!"

He sighed. "I am?"

She nodded. "Yep."

"Ok fine, let's go. We'll start in the shopping district okay?"

She motioned for him to lead the way. "You're the boss." She said, and skated after him. A few minutes later, they reached the downtown shopping area, and began making their way through stores. Tenaya dragged Ryoma around to some clothing stores, and laughed while she made Ryoma try on ridiculous outfits. Then they decided to take a walk through central park. After playing on the swings, and having multiple sand fights (which resulted in a very grumpy Ryoma with sand in his hair), they headed back to the shopping district for some ice cream. While they ate that, they went around and visited some tennis stores. At the shoe store, they spotted Eiji trying on a pair of shoes, and Tenaya insisted that they say hi.

"Eiji-san!" Tenaya called out.

He looked up. "Aah! Tenaya! And you're here with ochibi-san!"

"Mm-hmm." She nodded as they made their way over to where he was sitting. "So, are you buying new shoes?"

"Yeah, but I can't decide on what color." He said, and held up a red pair and a blue pair. "What do you think?"

"Red. It matches your eyes!"

He laughed. "Good choice. I'll go with that."

After paying for the shoes, Kikumaru bid farewell to Tenaya and Ryoma and headed home. Tenaya looked at her watch. "We should head home too. It's already 4:00."

Ryoma looked up. "Wow, we've been out here a long time."

She smiled and shrugged. "Time flies when you're having fun."

He thought about that as they headed home. This was the first time he had fun in a while. Of course, he always enjoyed playing tennis, but that was different. He hadn't wanted to leave his house this morning, but right now, he was glad he did. He looked up as he heard the sounds of a tennis game going on to his left. Obviously, Tenaya had heard it too.

"Hey look, street tennis! You should go play Ryoma."

He shook his head. "Nah."

Her face fell. "Oh, why not?"

"I just...don't want to."

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't.

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"...please?" She said, looking up at him with big gray eyes.

He took one look at her pleading face and sighed. "Fine. But you owe me."

"Yay! Ok, now go over their and beat their butts!"

He muttered under his breath as he walked over. The game had just finished, so he borrowed a racket and stepped onto the court. He started with his right hand, but found that his opponent was pretty good. So even though he was winning 3-2, he switched to his left hand to speed the game up. Soon the game was over, Ryoma winning 6-3. Tenaya cheered as he stepped off the court, and ran over to give him a congratulating hug.

"You were great, short stuff!" She exclaimed, eyes shining with excitement.

He smiled and took a drink of water. "Thanks."

At this moment, they spotted Ryoma's opponent walking over with a couple of friends. He sneered as he approached them. "So, you think you're good don't you?"

Ryoma wiped his mouth and put away his water bottle. "Better than you."

His face started to cloud with anger. "I was just going easy on you. Don't get all cocky."

"Don't make excuses for your lack of skills."

"Look, you don't know who you're dealing with! I'm Hiroya Aikowa, kind of street tennis! You're should be bowing down."

Ryoma just stared. "If you're such a legend, then why did you lose so badly to me?"

He smirked. "Like I said, I was going easy on you. After all, you are just a little freshman, and I didn't want any feelings getting hurt.

Ryoma snorted. "That's the excuse everybody uses. They just pretend that they were holding back, when actually, they're just ashamed that their best couldn't beat a _freshman_." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm on the last part.

"Why, you little-" Hiroya was obviously really ticked off now. Before anybody could react, he stepped forward, and struck Ryoma square in the jaw with his right fist. Ryoma stumbled backwards from the impact, and clutched his bleeding lip.

Tenaya finally spoke up after quietly watching their argument all this time. "What the hell is wrong with you!" She yelled.

Hiroya, as if just noticing Tenaya, turned to face her with a smirk on his face. "Ooh, feisty one. Not to mention beautiful, just how I like them." He sauntered over to where she was standing. "What do you say, you and me?"

"Eww, no! I'd never go out with a jerk like you."

"Mm, not to mention a foreigner with kick-ass English! Aw c'mon, you know you want to. You're lucky to get asked out by Hiroya Aikowa. You don't know how many die-hard fangirls I've turned down."

"Well, all your fans must be messed up in the head then, because you are not a chick magnet like you think."

"Of course I am! And I'm offering the chance for you to be my girlfriend! Tons of girls would die to be in your position right now."

Tenaya looked over at Ryoma, who was still holding his lip, which was still bleeding. "No. Go to hell."

"Well, if you don't want me, then you could at least do better than this guy!" He said, pointing at Ryoma. "What is a gorgeous girl like you, doing with a wimp like him?"

She glared. "Well, he's a way better person than you are. I'd take him over an ass-sucking dumbfuck like you anyday."

"Aw, you don't mean that." He smirked. (Although he didn't know what she just said because his school didn't teach English cussing.) "I know you really can't resist a hot guy like me." He said, moving closer to her and placing his hands on her hips.

Tenaya smiled and leaned in closer to Hiroya. A look of triumph came onto his face, as she lifted up her arms and wrapped them around his neck. He smirked over her shoulder at Ryoma who was looking at him and Tenaya with a helpless look on his face. Tenaya leaned upwards to whisper seductively in his ear. "You're right Hiroya, you are pretty hot, under that first impression. I just can't keep my hands off…" She slowly trailed one finger down his chest, and leaned so close to his ear that it looked like she about to kiss it. "A jackass like you!" She yelled, making him cringe at the sudden explosion in his eardrums. And as soon as he winced and removed his hands from her butt to cover his ears, she punched him hard in the nose. "Whew, that was worth all of your disgusting octopus-groping." She said, smirking.

All of his friends looked surprised for a second, but they snapped out of their daze when they heard a howl of pain.

"Ow, my nose! It's bleeding. Y-you punched me!"

She glared. "And you deserved it."

He quickly scrambled up to his feet, still clutching his nose. "You're lucky I don't hit girls, because you would be so dead."

"Bull, you're just afraid. And you know you want some more." She said, smirking and cracking her knuckles.

His eyes widened and he quickly started scampering away with his friends. "We're gonna get you back for this!"

"Good!" She called out, and turned around to face Ryoma. "God, jerks like him don't deserve to live. Hey, you okay?" She said, voice softening at the end as she kneeled down to face him.

By this time, his lip had stopped bleeding except for a small trickle of red that ran down his chin. He had really thought she was serious back there, and for some reason, was extremely relieved that she wasn't. He didn't know why, but the moment she returned Hiroya's hug, he had suddenly felt a slight pang of hurt and betrayal, which was ridiculous considering how they weren't even anything more than friends. "Yeah, I'm...okay."

"You should fight back next time." She took a napkin out of her pocket and wet it with some water from his water bottle. Then, taking the wet towel, she carefully removed his hands from his bloody lip, and gently wiped the blood away. But as gentle as she was, he still winced. "Sorry," she whispered, as she continuted cleaning. She was really sad somehow. Ryoma didn't deserve this kind of treatment, and she realized that he was probably often bullied because of his skill. She gently brushed the hair that was sticking to his blood and sweat covered face away, and finished cleaning his lip.

"Thank you." He said, lightly touching his swollen lip to test how bad it was. It had finally stopped bleeding all together, and didn't hurt much when he touched it. Then he stood up and started walking home with Tenaya.

"Hey Ryoma, just...don't listen to people like him, they're just jealous."

He shrugged. "I guess."

She sighed, as if she was suddenly tired and weary. "You're good at tennis…and they know it." His situation had suddenly reminded her of when she was little, and was often made fun of out of the jealousy and hatred that her opponents often had for her.

They spent the rest of the walk in silence. When they reached Tenaya's house, she was about to open the door and walk in when Ryoma's voice stopped her.

"Um...Tenaya?"

She turned around to face him. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say...thanks." It was nice to have somebody stick up for him for once. And nobody had ever called him a good person before.

She smiled, and her gray eyes seemed especially vibrant. "Now we're even."

Sunday morning passed pretty fast. Ryoma came over to help Tenaya and Carter repaint his room. (He wanted it blue instead of white) Then, after that, Ryoma went home, and Tenaya and Carter had lunch. Then they started preparing dinner. Ryoma and his family were supposed to come over for dinner that night, so Tenaya and Carter were preparing something special. Carter was making shrimp fettuccini, and Tenaya was baking garlic bread from scratch.

By the time they finished, Ryoma and his family had already arrived. Dinner was lively, and everybody got along surprisingly well. After they ate, the grownups chatted while the kids enjoyed a game of Soul Calibur on the PS2. After the Echizens went home, Joan and Mom cleaned up. It was the perfect day before the start of another week.

Tenaya's POV - Tuesday

I was in hiding. Yep. From Tezuka to be exact. He would no doubt force me to play tennis if he found me. When I showed up at tennis practice yesterday, I just barely escaped his 'wrath'. I know that I promised to play for Tezuka so that he could recommend me to be the girls' tennis coach, but I just didn't feel ready yet. I could only use the "didn't-bring-a-change-of-clothes" excuse so many times.

I was currently hiding behind the skate ramps, where nobody could see me. But I was extremely bored, and I planned to run for it as soon as Tezuka looked the other way.

Finally, about 10 extremely long minutes later, Tezuka headed into the school office, and I grabbed this chance. I got my skateboard and backpack, and ran over to the tennis court to tell Ryoma.

"Where were you? Tezuka's looking for you." Ryoma said, wiping his sweaty brow.

"Yes, I know! That's why I'm going into hiding." I whispered as I looked around for the tennis coach.

He gave me a weird look. "O…k…"

"Yeah, so I'm gonna go home first okay?"

He set down his racket and picked up his water bottle. "You can't run forever you know."

I winced. He didn't know it, but those words were the exact ones that I kept trying to tell myself. I sighed in defeat. I knew deep inside that he was speaking the truth, but I wasn't ready to face the truth. Not yet.

Ryoma must have noticed the look on my face, for his brow wrinkled in worry. "Oh, sorry…did I say something wrong?"

"No. I'm okay." I smiled at him weakly and shook my head. "I know you're right, but I'm not ready, okay?" I paused and when his worried look deepened, I was about to say something else to reassure him, but instead, I just turned and started running in the other direction. "See you later!" I called out. But unfortunately, I ran right into Tezuka.

"Tenaya! There you are, are you going to play today?"

"Uh, no…I can't…" I stammered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the regulars all stop to watch the current ongoing drama.

"Why not?" Crap, now I was in for it. I looked around for an escape way as Tezuka launched into an explanation of why I needed to start playing very soon, and how I was running out of time. Suddenly I gasped and pointed.

"Oh my god! Fuji dyed his hair pink!"

"What!" Tezuka whirled around to look at Fuji, who had a half-confused, half-amused look on his face, and I stole this chance to run. I heard Eiji cheering as I turned the corner. I continued running all the way until I reached my house, and I sat down on my front porch to catch my breath. "Aah, that was close…" I said to myself, in between gasps. Escaped this time…

Narrator's POV

Tenaya sat down on the grass at the park, while Hikari sniffed out the place. She sighed, and lied down. This seemed like the thinking park for her. She knew that one of these days, she'd eventually have to stop running and face the facts. No doubt Tezuka would make her soon enough.

She wondered with a smile, just how bad she had gotten over the past year. She sat up, and brushed herself off, but when she looked around for Hikari, she was nowhere to be found.

"Hm, I wonder where she went…" she murmured to herself, as she started searching through bushes. She pushed aside a branch, and to her surprise, found Hikari prancing around in the grass around none other than Kaido Kaoru. He looked up, and when he saw Tenaya, looked away to hide his blush.

"Kaido, right?"

He only nodded.

She laughed. "You like animals don't you?"

He looked up. "How did you know?"

"Oh, I can sorta tell."

"So, is this your dog?"

She nodded. "Yep, her name's Hikari."

Kaidoh bent down to pet her. "She's a German Shepherd?"

"Yeah, she is." Tenaya smiled. "So, what brings you here?"

"I was in the middle of my jog."

"Do you come by this park often?"

He nodded. "Everyday."

"Hikari likes it too, it seems." She smiled.

Kaido sighed. "I wish I had a pet."

"Why don't you get one?"

"I guess, with tennis and school, I'm just too busy to take care of one."

"Oh." She sighed. "Too bad. How long have you been playing tennis?"

He stuck his hands in his pockets, "Ever since I was nine."

"Wow, no wonder you're so good."

He blushed. "How about you?"

She smiled. "What about me?"

"Well, do you play tennis?" He said, giving Hikari's ears a little scratch.

She sighed. This was getting repetitive. "Used to."

"Oh. Because Tezuka wants you to be the girls' tennis team coach right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if I'm right for the job…"

"How come?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Tennis…just might not be my thing…" She trailed off, and sighed. "Anyways, nice talking to you! I'm gonna head home now."

"Okay, bye." He waved and continued jogging.

Tenaya thought about that while she lead Hikari home. If she was so sure that she didn't want to play tennis, then why did she agree to becoming the girls tennis coach in the first place? She shook her head clear of these thoughts. She decided that she was way over-thinking this situation. Maybe she should just let things take its course, and hopefully, everything would work out for the best.

a/n: Sorry for the cheesy chapters, they'll get better, I promise. Anyways, I'll try my hardest to update _at least _once a week, and if not, then I apologize beforehand. So, constructive criticism, comments, and flames, all welcome.

Thanks to:

RuByMoOn17 – Don't worry, Sakuno and Tomo bashing will be coming soon! X And glad you liked it! Hope you like this one and thanks for reviewing!

silvya – Glad you liked it. I'll try to update at least once a week. Thanks for reviewing!

Shells1 – Yeah, Tenaya's only here for a little while, but Tezuka is desperate. The girls' team needs a coach, even only for a little while. Besides, he thinks he's charming enough to convince her to stay if she's a good enough coach. snicker And yes, I just couldn't help but add the Ryoma blushing part. So cute! XD

Thanks for reviewing and hope you enjoy!

invisible-gurl – Thank you! Hope you like chapter 7! (Technically chapter 8 if you count the prologue, but whatever.


	9. Anger

Disclaimer: Don't own, so please don't sue!

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Anger

I ran towards the lockers as I heard the P.E. bell ring. Today was a softball day, and I was glad it was over, since I didn't really like the sport much. After changing, I met Ryoma outside, and we chatted as we waited for the dismissal bell to ring. We had really become good friends over the past week. When I thought about it, I realized that he was the first friend, real friend, that I've ever had. Not to mention that he's had a growth spurt, considering that he was now an inch or two taller than me. All of the other guys in our grade, though, still seemed to tower over him.

As soon as the dismissal bell rang, he and I headed over to the front gates, and home. But as we were walking, a smiling Fuji headed our way.

"Hello." He greeted us.

"Oh, hi Fuji! Do you walk this way too?"

"Yes," he nodded. "In fact, I live very close to Ryoma."

"Oh really?" I thought for a second. "I haven't seen you walk this way before."

He smiled. "That's because my sister usually picks me up."

Tenaya grinned. "To drive you three blocks home?"

Fuji smiled. "What can I say, she'll grab any opportunity to drive her new car."

I laughed. "Oh, okay."

"So Ryoma, no tennis today, would you like to play me at the park?" Fuji asked.

Ryoma smiled. "Sure. And I'll win."

"Ha, we'll see." He looked over at me. "Tenaya, would you like to come too?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like fun."

Fuji nodded. "Alright, I'll pick you both up then."

"Okay." I smiled. "See you then!"

Narrator's POV

A couple of hours later, Tenaya, Ryoma, and Fuji met at, coincidentally, her 'thinking park' for a game of tennis. On the way there, Fuji explained that there was a game this Saturday against Hyotei, so it was best to get prepared. Ryoma looked extremely pumped and excited for this, she noticed while they warmed up.

Tenaya smiled as she sat down on a bench to watch. The excitement on his face shone with every smile, the sport itself just giving him joy. Reminded her of someone else…

It was only about 7:00 when their game ended, with Ryoma just barely winning a 7-5 tie break. The whole time, Tenaya thought mostly about Ryoma. How he could always find so much fun in a simple sport. She remembered when, before, she had felt the exact same way. And possibly, could feel again. And Ryoma, if anybody, would be the one to inspire her.

Over the next couple of days, Fuji and Tenaya had become great friends. Fuji always made her laugh, unintentionally most of the time, which always made him wonder what exactly was so funny. He had started walking home more and more, instead of riding with his sister, and often walked with Ryoma and her. But as the three of them spent more time together, Tenaya noticed something about Ryoma. He never said much when somebody else was in their company. Like they would be having a conversation, and as soon as somebody walked over to join them, he kind of quieted down. It didn't really trouble her, but she did wonder about it sometimes…

As Friday rolled around, the last tennis practice before the match, the whole team was getting more and more excited. All of them, at one point, asked Tenaya whether or not she'd be there, and she reassured them all with a smile that she would. She was anxious herself about this match. It would be the first official match she'd been to since…Regionals, and she wondered how she would handle it.

When Saturday morning came, she was surprised to open her front door and see Ryoma standing there, tennis bag in hand, ready to go. She laughed when she saw his eager face. "Excited aren't we?"

He nodded and motioned for her to hurry up. "Come on! We're supposed to be there at 10:00!"

She grabbed her skateboard. "Yeah, which is in an hour?"

"But I need to warm up!"

"Oh c'mon and just admit you're excited. You never need an hour to warm up."

"Ok, whatever, just hurry up!" He jumping up and down with anxiety now.

She laughed and hopped onto her skateboard. "Alright, alright! I didn't know you could get this excited about something."

"I usually don't. It's just that I haven't had a match in almost 2 months, and plus, I'm playing Atobe Keigo today, which will probably the first challenge I've had in a while."

"So, is he good?"

"Not really. He's beaten Tezuka before though."

She stared at him. "…who's beaten you."

Ryoma smirked. "Yeah, but Atobe just won by luck that time. I'll flatten him today!"

Tenaya sighed. "Okay, whatever you say. Just don't let that ego of your get any bigger." She smirked. "Or there won't be room for anything else."

Ryoma's POV

I can't believe I lost. How could it be possible? When I thought about it, there was no way I could lose. But I couldn't really concentrate right now, since everybody else was making such a racket. (No pun intended.) We were in Takashi's sushi shop, celebrating our victory. Everybody but me. After Atobe beat me, Fuji won, securing the win for Seigaku but…I can't believe I lost!

I grit my teeth and clenched my fists. How could I suffer such an embarrassing defeat? It was so close too. It was my match point, and I made an unforced error. Then I hit the ball into the net during his match point. God, how I hated myself right now. Not only have I been training to play Atobe for weeks, I feel like I let my teammates down. They had all been rooting for me, and I let my concentration slip.

I looked over at Tenaya, who was chatting animatedly with Fuji, about his game no doubt. I couldn't help but think that I let her down the most. She had always been there to help me out, but at her first game, Atobe beats me.

I hurriedly drank the rest of my tea and got up to leave. The room was so crowded and everyone was being so loud, that I slipped out easily without being noticed.

I sighed and stared at the sky. It was close to sunset, and the clouds were outlined with a light pink-ish tint. Sorry everybody…Tenaya…

Tenaya's POV

I smiled at Fuji as he talked about the match. He was commenting on how well the others did, and what he could have done better. I smirked inwardly. Modesty was always his way.

But the truth was, I was only half paying attention. My mind kept wandering back to Ryoma's game with Atobe. How, the moment his backhand slipped and the ball hit the net, he had dropped his racket and went down on all fours. Sakuno had rushed out there a little later to comfort Ryoma, but he had ignored her. He stayed there for so long, that I had started getting worried, but the look on his face when he eventually stood up was even worse. His expression went beyond wounded pride, to the point where it looked like it was emotionally painful, a feeling I understood. And after that, he hadn't said a single word, and nobody tried to speak to him. (Well, except Tomo and Sakuno, but it was safe to say that they had no luck.)

I looked up as I heard the shoji door slide shut, and looked over to Ryoma's empty seat. "I should really do something about him." I thought. So when Fuji finished, I stood up and announced that I was heading home. I thanked Takashi and his dad who both bowed in response, and I congratulated the whole the whole team on their victory.

After I put my shoes on, I grabbed my skateboard and slid the door open. I spotted Ryoma turning the corner about a block away, and I hurried to catch up to him

Narrator's POV

"Hey, I saw you leave the party." Tenaya said as she skateboarded up to him. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He shrugged and kept walking. "Maybe because I didn't want everybody to know."

"Well, people are going to wonder where you went."

"Oh well. Let them wonder." He shrugged. "What about you? Why did you leave?"

She smiled. "I had my fun. I don't really like sushi anyway."

"It looked like you were having lots of fun, talking to _Fuji_."

She raised her eyebrow at the bitter edge to his voice. "I…was. He's a great conversationalist you know. And always so kind, and not to mention, great at tennis. But I didn't want to hog his attention. No matter how modest he is, everybody else knows that he's the star of the day."

Ryoma clenched his teeth. Was Tenaya _trying _to piss him off? "Oh really?" He forced a smile. "What did you guys talk about?" He wanted to see whether or not she was doing this on purpose.

"Well, most of the conversation was centered around his game today. He was commenting on how he could have improved, and I was, well, listening. I didn't really find that much wrong with how he played today though, to tell you the truth. Flawless, almost. They really don't call him the tennis tensai for nothi-"

"Then why don't you go back there and keep talking to him then!" Ryoma yelled. He had had enough. Tenaya was the person he minded least, and deep down without knowing it, he had kind of wanted her company after his defeat. But right now, it seemed like she was _purposely _pushing all his sore spots, and getting on his last nerve.

Tenaya stopped and hitched up her skateboard, deciding to walk instead. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Ooh, hostile aren't we? Just because of one stupid little game?"

He burst. "It's not just one stupid little game! I lost to Atobe! Him! I've made a resolution to beat him, and I make one little mistake and lose it all. If only—"

"Ryoma, stop it." Tenaya sighed, as if she was suddently extremely weary, and hugged her skateboard closer. "What you're going through right now…I know how you feel…I think, at least, a little. That feeling you get when you lose, and the people you feel you've let down. Ryoma, I know."

She looked up at the setting sun, and for a moment, she really did remember, as clear as day. All those times she lost, and just had that empty feeling inside that only the right words could fill. Well, her dad provided those words for her, and right now, she felt that she needed to provide them for Ryoma.

"All those people cheer for you, in hopes to see you win. And you'd do anything not to let them down, which is exactly what you did today, or so you think. You're unconsciously letting these people control you, and you've forgotten about yourself. You're playing first and foremost for you."

Ryoma unclenched his fists, and remained silent, as if pondering what she just said. By this time, they had reached Tenaya's street, and they turned the corner.

"You fee like…you've lost them." She continued, in a sad voice. "Their support, hopes, expectations, everything. But you don't see that…we don't care that you've made a mistake. It's like you've fallen down, and refuse to try again." They slowed as they reached her house. They paused and turned to face each other. Tenaya looked into Ryoma's eyes and saw an emotion she couldn't describe. Something between confusion and relief. She stepped closer until they were face to face, and looking into each other's eyes.

"You need to look up, and see that we're the ones waiting for you. We've forgotten your mistake, and just hoping to see you back to your old self again." She smiled sadly. "All of us."

Ryoma looked at Tenaya. She was smiling, but her gray eyes told of nothing but pain. He didn't want to admit it, but it seemed like she knew more about him that he did. And right now, she was speaking the exact words that he had been waiting to hear, for a long time.

Tenaya took one step closer, and slowly raised her hand up to Ryoma's face, barely letting her fingers graze his cheek. "So, stop trying to redeem your lost pride, and just want it for yourself next time. Win it for you."

Ryoma closed his eyes. He could almost feel them filling with tears that he was just barely able to hold back. How could it be that this strange girl he had met only a little more than a week ago knew all this about him? She had somehow found his most hidden sadness, one that he did not even know existed himself, and soothed it with only a few sentences. He looked up at her through blurry eyes. Her hand still lay softly on his cheek, and he relaxed at her touch. The comforting scent of peaches emanating from her, completely the opposite of Tenaya's wild nature, although still fitting somehow, surrounded him like a warm, safe blanket.

Tenaya looked into his eyes that were quickly beginning to tear and smiled. She noticed that up close, his eyes were actually a deep green, not brown like she had first thought. Hm, how fitting, mysterious, forest green eyes…

For a second, Ryoma thought that she was going to kiss him, since she had started leaning closer and closer. But at the last moment, she just smiled, and brushed her hand across his cheek once more, this time her fingers gently grazing his lip. And with that, she turned and ran up the steps to her porch. "I'll see you tomorrow okay? We should do something fun." She smiled one last time, before disappearing into her house.

a/n: Whew, summer vacation! I'm trying to update as fast as I can, but I haven't actually written muchmore of the story past this chapter. So, the posting will slow down a great deal starting from now. Since I would like to save you the trouble of checking back to this story every day, I'll contact you every time a new chapter is posted. Please give me your email address, by sending it to Thanks for all your support! Flames, constructive criticism, and comments welcome.

ath-caga: Glad you like the story so far! Thanks for reviewing, and enjoy!

Invisible-gurl: Thanks for reviewing! And I'll update as fast as I can! Enjoy chapter 8.


	10. A New Victory

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Chapter 9

A New Victory

Narrator's POV

Ryoma sighed and sat up. He had been laying on his bed for the last hour or so, thinking. About tennis, his game with Atobe the day before, but mostly about his talk last night with Tenaya. He looked at his clock, which read 3:55. He remembered her saying that they should do something fun today, but he hadn't heard from her since. Maybe he should go to her house himself. After making up his mind, he changed into long, baggy black pants, and a short sleeved shirt. He slipped on his favorite blue and white wristband, but decided not to wear a hat.

It was a warm, sunny day, and Ryoma took his time walking down the street to Tenaya's house. But once again, his thoughts drifted to her. He dind't know why she seemed to care so much. Before, he had always kept to himself and this was the first person, outside of his family and Tomo and Sakuno, who seemed to care about how he felt. Even then, his family gave up after a little while, and he would rather Tomo and Sakuno mind their own businness. But Tenaya's voice when she spoke to him last night, was so sincere, that he subconsciously welcomed it. His thoughts were cut short though, when he found himself on Tenaya's porch. A little while after ringing the doorbell, Tenaya's mom welcomed him in with a big smile on her face. "Tenaya's down the hall in her room, in case you were looking for her." She said.

Ryoma nodded his thanks, and made his way down the hall. As he approached her room, he heard music floating softly through the door. At first, the thought it was the radio, but it seemed more real than that. He stood there listening for a little while, to the beautiful tune, before opening the door. He was surprised to see Tenaya sitting cross-legged on her bed, playing the guitar. She looked up as he walked in.

"Oh, hey Ryoma! I was just about to go over to your house." She smiled.

He smiled back. "Yeah, I decided to save you the trouble this time."

"Thanks!" She said, and bent down to study her guitar again. Ryoma sat down on the bed, and turned to face her.

"You never told me you could play the guitar."

She shrugged. "You never asked."

"So, is it yours?"

She nodded. "Yep. I've had it forever." She smiled lovingly down at it. "I had to wrestle my mom just so I could bring it with me here though. It used to be my dad's..."

Ryoma noticed the way her voice seemed to soften when she spoke of her dad, and realized that he didn't actually know that much about him, since she didn't seem to talk about him very often. "What other instruments do you play?"

"Just the piano." She grinned at him.

"Did you bring your piano too?" Ryoma smirked.

She laughed. "No, but lucky enough for me, there's a piano here."

"Oh, really?"

"Yup, lucky me. It's over in the family room."

Ryoma leaned down on his elbows. "So do you write songs or what?"

"Well, I write them, and usually make some music to go along with it. Most of the time, I pair vocals too."

He frowned. "Do you ever perform?"

"Oh, no. I just don't like sharing my music with strangers that much. And plus, Joan and Carter do the singing sometimes, and I want to respect their privacy too." She took her pick and stuck it between the guitar strings, and put her guitar away. "I was just working on an unfinished song of mine, but I can always do that later. Now let's go! I have plans for us."

"You're taking me to dinner?" Ryoma asked as the approached the small restaurant.

"Yep." Tenaya smiled. She looked up at the restaurant. It was small, but clean and pretty. It had kind of a tropical theme with tables surrounding the outside walls of the circular building. She had passed it the weekend before, and was waiting for a chance to check it out. "Well, not really. More like a snack."

"Oh, okay." Ryoma smiled. He had seen this cafe, Chiyo's, many times before, but had never tried it.

As they sat down at one of the outdoor tables, a waiter came and brought them water. Ryoma ordered a small rice plate with fish, and Tenaya got soba noodles. The waiter then took their menus and informed them that their food would be there shortly.

Tenaya peered at Ryoma over her cup of water with a small smile on her face.

"What?" Ryoma asked when he noticed her staring.

Her smile grew wider. "Nothing," she said as she took a sip of her drink.

Ryoma, confused, decided to just ignore it, and turned to his food which had just arrived. Tenaya grinned. In truth, she was smiling because of the way Ryoma acted the night before. He had always been a calm, controlled guy, but last night, she had seen a different side of him. The side that he seemed to be hiding most of the time. She felt that she knew him better now, and she was glad.

While Tenaya thought about that, Ryoma was doing some thinking of his own. Why did Tenaya seem to care about him so much? He had gotten moody and depressed before, and at those times, people just left him alone, and that was what he wanted. To be left on his own to think. People crowding around him wanting to know what was wrong, just made his situation worse and everybody knew it. But last night, Tenaya had confronted him, even after he heard Momo tell her to leave him alone, and somehow got him to open up. And right after he burst, all it took was a few words from her to calm him down. It was a completely new experience, to tell others his troubles, then have them comfort him, and he wanted that feeling to stay.

Ryoma finished up his food quickly, and looke up to see that Tenaya was done as well. They split the bill, and then stood up to leave.

"So, what do you wanna do now?" Ryoma asked.

Tenaya shrugged. "I don't know."

"I thought you were the hose here."

She smirked. "I was, but the host has just run out of ideas."

He sighed. He thought for a while, then finally came up with a plan. "Follow me."

Ryoma smirked as he led Tenaya away from Chiyo's. He knew the perfect place for her.

"Oh my god." Tenaya said as they approached their designation. It was a huge skate park. There were three huge skate ramps and multiple small ones for self practice. At one of the bigger ramps, there seemed to be a competition going on. There were three guys, each flying down different sections of the ramps, completely trained on what they were doing.

"Oh no you don't." Tenaya said, shaking her head.

"C'mon Tenaya. You should go."

"What? Join their competition? No way. They probably won't let me anyway."

"Well then, lets go ask." Ryoma said, dragging a reluctant Tenaya along over to where the judge stood.

"Excuse me," Ryoma said. "Is it too late to enter another contestant?"

The judge shook his head. "Warm-ups just ended. You can enter but you just won't have any warm-up time."

"Okay." Ryoma nodded. "But I'm not competing," he said, and pointed to Tenaya. "She is."

The judge stared. "A girl?"

Ryoma blinked. "Why not?"

"Well, this is skateboarding, which is usually a guy's sport."

"Oh." Ryoma sighed. He didn't know that. He didn't think there was a guy's and girl's sport, but then again, he didn't know much of anything about skateboarding. So he turned and told Tenaya what the judge said. "Lucky you. You're off the hook today." He sighed, and turned to leave. But Tenaya stopped him.

"No. I'm competing." She said, with a fire in her eyes. Ugh, the nerve of that judge. What did he mean "skateboarding is a guy's sport"! Well, she was going to show him something.

But the judge obviously wasn't the only one who thought the way he did, for when Ryoma announced that she was competing, an audible gasp came from the crowd. Everyone stared while the other three contestants smirked. Surely, a girl would mean an easy win for them. Hmph, she though. Yeah right.

A moment later, when the judge finally snapped to his sense, he announced to the crowd that a last minute contestant had arrived, although he didn't need to. But Tenaya heard none of it as she carried her skateboard to join the other contestants.

Tenaya's POV

I sat quietly as the announcer blabbered something in Japanese. Back in America, I had faced some sexist discrimination on the topic of skateboarding, and it always angered me. Even now, the three guys sitting beside me were snickering amongst themselves. I ignored them. I'd show them exactly why a girl is as good as any guy.

As the competition began, I watched intently while the other three guys each took their turn. At first, I was wondering how good they were, but I shouldn't have thought too much. They turned out to be pretty good. Really good, actually, but I was sure I could beat them. One of them fell twice during the course, and the other two each fell once. I smirked. Sure, this was my first skateboard competition, but the course being used was one I'd practiced before. It was a tricky course, but as long as I didn't fall, I could win.

I smiled at Ryoma before stepping up to the ramp edge, and he smiled reassuringly back at me. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and let go. A few seconds later, I forgot that I was actually competing and just concentrated on having fun. The course was harder than usual, but I was doing good, so far. About 3 minutes later, I finished, out of breath, back where I started. I smiled. I hadn't done perfect, but a lot better than the other contestants. I slipped once, but caught myself before falling. Not bad for my first competition…

Finally, a new victory.

a/n: So tired…Just got back from Fresno…not enough sleep…Sorry if this chapter sucked…


	11. Should've Said Yes

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Chapter 10

Should've Said Yes.

Narrator's POV

"Hm…A talent show." Fuji looked up at the bulletin board where a flyer was pinned announcing a talent show. "What do you guys think?"

Ryoma and Tenaya shrugged simultaneously, as if on cue. "I've never been in one." They repeated together.

Fuji cocked an eyebrow at them. Were they telepathic or what?

"Well, I think it's kind of a nice idea. Tenaya you could play guitar, and sing."

She frowned. "Who told you that I could play guitar?"

He blinked. "Ryoma."

"Oh." She looked over at Ryoma, who had all of a sudden become extremely fascinated in the thread hanging on his jacket sleeve. "Yeah, I could. It'd be a nice way to end my vacation here, since I leave a couple weeks afterward."

Fuji and Ryoma looked at each other. Oh yeah, they seemed to realize. She wasn't here to stay.

Fuji smiled. "Yep! Do it, it would be fun."

Tenaya smiled. "Okay, you've got me convinced."

Fuji laughed. "Good. Now, I have to go to the library before lunch ends. See you guys!" He called out as he started down the hall.

Tenaya yawned and stretched. "It's so nice to have such long lunch periods." She pushed her bangs out of her eyes as they turned the corner, and immediately groaned as she spotted Daisuki and Genma coming their way. "Way to ruin it…" she muttered. Echizen remained expressionless as the two jocks approached them.

"Tenaya! Just the person we were hoping to see." Genma exclaimed in an over-enthusiastic voice.

Tenaya smiled weakly at them. "Hm…same."

"Well," Daisuki smiled. "Not to beat around the bush, but you look nice today."

Tenaya snorted, but managed to turn it into coughing fit. Echizen helpfully patted, or more like smacked, her on the back.

"Thank you. But could you please get to the point? We're kinda in hurry." Tenaya said, managing to maintain a straight face. Now it was Ryoma's turn to snort, except he did nothing to disguise it.

"Right." Daisuki's million-watt smile dimmed. "I was wondering if you'd like to come watch a basketball game with me this Saturday?"

Tenaya glanced quickly at Ryoma. Her immediate answer was "no!" but she didn't want to seem rude. "Details." She replied.

Daisuki smiled confidently, and stood up taller. "It's the Mustangs against the Thunderbolts at the Tokyo convention center from 7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. What do you say?"

Tenaya put on a sympathetic face. "So sorry, but—"

"I talked to your mom by the way." Daisuki cut in. "She told me that you were free this Saturday and that you were a huge basketball fan."

Tenaya stared. "You talked to my _mother_?"

"Oh yeah. I ran into her at the grocery store."

Tenaya raised an eyebrow at this. "And…you recognized her?"

Daisuki's smile wavered. "Oh! Uh, yeah. You look exactly like her."

Tenaya rolled her eyes. "I look like my dad." She muttered to Ryoma, and turned back to face Daisuki and Genma. She sighed. "Okay, okay. You win."

Daisuki beamed. "Yes! Great! So, we'll meet you there this Sunday."

"Woah, woah, wait." Tenaya paused. "It's two of you, and one of me?"

"Well," Genma blushed. "We couldn't decide who to go."

"Then, it's only fair that I bring somebody too right?"

Daisuki and Genma stared. "Fine." Daisuki sighed. "See you Sunday then."

Tenaya smiled. "Alright bye!" She waved and headed off down the hall with Ryoma. "Great." She sneered sarcastically. "I've got a date with two hotshot jocks. Woohoo."

"Why'd you say yes then?" Ryoma asked.

"They guy was practically stalking my mother! I ran out of excuses!" She stated innocently.

Ryoma snorted. "Well, have fun."

"What?" Tenaya turned to face him. "You'll go with me right?"

"Yeah right."

"You're gonna make me go alone with those two bimbos!"

"Eh. You'll live." He smirked.

"I guess I'll just ask someone else then." She shrugged.

"Oh." Ryoma adjusted his shoulder strap. "Yeah, you could do that. Who do you have in mind?"

Tenaya shrugged. "I don't know. You have 9 guys on your team. Probably Eiji or Fuji. In fact, here comes Kikumaru now." She said and waved. "Eiji!"

Eiji looked up. "Oh! Hey Tenaya, hey Ryoma. What's up?"

Tenaya smiled as she and Ryoma approached him. "Actually, I have a favor to ask."

"Go on." Kikumaru smiled.

"Well, do you know Daisuki and Genma from my year?"

Eiji rolled his eyes. "Who doesn't?'

"Yeah, well, they kinda asked me on a date just now to watch a basketball game with them this Saturday, and I've persuaded them to let me bring somebody with me. So I was wondering if you would go with me?" Tenaya crossed her fingers behind her back.

Kikumaru stood there for a moment, staring. "You want _me_ to go with you?"

She nodded, biting her lip.

"What about Ryoma?" He asked.

Tenaya rolled her eyes and elbowed Ryoma. "Daisuki and Genma are a little much for him."

Kikumaru laughed. "Sure, I'd love to come! Yay! A date with Tenaya!"

Tenaya laughed. "Okay then, thank you so much Eiji!"

Eiji waved as the bell rang. "My pleasure!"

Tenaya sighed as she started walking down the hall again with Ryoma. "Thank god, for a while, I thought I was going to have to go with them alone." She smiled. "Good thing Eiji agreed to go." She smiled and started humming a tune.

Ryoma smiled forcedly, and looked down at his feet, shuffling along behind Tenaya to their math class.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully. Much too soon for Tenaya, Saturday arrived. She woke up in the morning at around 9:00 and took a shower. She got dressed, headed downstairs, and greeted her parents and siblings.

"Hey honey." Her mom called out over the sizzling of the bacon on the stove. "You have a big date tonight don't you? I met those two boys over at the grocery store last weekend, you know them right?"

Tenaya groaned and plopped herself down in a chair across from Carter. "Mom, it's not a date. We're just watching basketball."

"Together." Carter added.

"And you just happen to be of the opposite sex," said Joan from across the table.

Tenaya rolled her eyes. "Shut up guys, it's not a date. Plus, I'm going with Eiji-san."

"Oh." Her mom said, with a hint of disappointment in her voice. "I thought it was going to be a date. You know, like your first formal one and all."

"It's not my first formal date! I just went on a date with Ryoma last Sunday." She said. So what if it that wasn't really a formal date, it was close enough.

"Ooooh, you did?" Joan asked curiously. "I didn't know you and Ryoma had a thing going on!"

Carter stroked his chin in mock thoughtfulness. "Hmm…I guess I approve. You and Ryoma make a good couple."

Tenaya rubbed her temples. "Ugh, I think I'm going back to bed. In fact, why did I even get up in the first place?"

"So you could get ready for your big date." Joan chewed on a piece of bacon. "Duh."

Tenaya sighed, and poured some syrup on her pancakes. "Right."

"I don't like her! She's just a friend." Eiji buttoned up his shirt, and looked at his sister's skeptical reflection in the mirror. "No really! She just asked me to go with her because Ryoma couldn't."

His sister rolled her eyes and smiled mischievously. "Yeah whatever, anyways, we have to make you nice and presentable for your little crush right! So come here!"

"NO! Sis, my hair's fine! Oh my god, get that straightening iron away from my head, you are NOT straightening my hair. No! No curling iron either! Aaah, get away! I look fine! I don't need a makeo--!"

Tenaya's POV

I shivered in the cold November breeze, and looked down at my watch. Eiji was to meet me here in a few minutes, since I was a little early. I pulled my tan suede jacket tighter and leaned back onto the bench. Stupid Ryoma…I thought. He had been all moody the whole week. And when I called him shortly before I left to meet Eiji, he didn't even wish me a good time. It was just, "Okay, Ryoma, gotta go meet Eiji, talk to you later okay?" and "Okay bye."

Dial tone.

Talk about Argh.

But I didn't have much time to ponder about Ryoma's weird behavior, because I spotted Eiji heading over to me, wrapped in a dark red scarf with a smile on his rosy face. "Hey." He breathed as he sat down next to me. "It's cold…" He shivered.

"Yeah. It is." I smiled.

"Well then, ready to go?" He asked.

"Yep, let's go." I said, standing up from the bench. Together we walked to the train station where we were to catch a train to the Tokyo convention center. Kikumaru was totally sweet the whole way and held my hand every time we were to cross a busy street. I smiled, and thought about how lucky I was to be friends with him. And not only him, the whole Seigaku team. Momo, Takashi, Fuji, Tezuka, Oishi, Kikumaru, Kaido, Inui, and Ryoma. Never did I think I would make such good friends, especially in a country that I had never been to before.

"So," Kikumaru said, offering me his arm, in which I gladly wrapped an arm around. "How are you?" He smiled his cute little smile down at me.

I smiled back at him. "Good. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to be friends with all of you."

He beamed. "You're lucky? You mean we're lucky. Too bad you're not staying though…" He face fell.

I sighed. "I know. It makes me sad to think that I'll be leaving soon."

Kikumaru frowned at me. "So you should make the best of what you have right? So make up with Ryoma."

I stared. "What? Make up with him? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you guys DID get in a fight right?"

I shook my head. "Not that I know of. He's just being moody."

"Oh really?" Kikumaru said. "I thought he was being grumpy because you didn't want to go on this date with him."

I laughed. "It was him who didn't want to go! I asked him, but he declined, and now he's being grumpy. I swear, that guy has more mood swings than I do when I'm on---."

"Okay okay!" Kikumaru interrupted with a laugh. "I get the idea."

I laughed along with him. "Yeah, but he'll be all better by tomorrow. He usually is."

Kikumaru smiled teasingly at me. "But…you do like Ryoma right?"

I coughed. "What? Where did you get that idea?"

He looked down at me. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out you know. Everybody knows."

I choked. "Everybody! What! Did I like, just MISS the memo!"

Kikumaru laughed. "Calm down, not EVERYBODY, just basically the whole Seigaku team."

I muttered. "Great."

Kikumaru and I found a seat on the subway train and sat down. I adjusted my black gloves and leaned my head on Kikumaru's shoulder. I guess I was just blind, if everybody seemed to notice.

"Does Ryoma know I like him?" I looked up Kikumaru.

He frowned. "I don't think so. He's good at tennis and school and stuff, but he's pretty clueless when it comes to girls."

"Hm." I looked out the window at the posters flying by.

Narrator's POV

Kikumaru and Tenaya met Daisuki and Genma in front of the Tokyo convention center a few minutes before 7:30. Daisuki and Genma, as well as Kikumaru, looked really good, and the girls passing by glared enviously at Tenaya, who just happened to be the only girl in the group. Daisuki and Genma, on the other hand, glared enviously at Kikumaru, whom Tenaya was still talking to with a smile on her face.

Together, the four of them headed in, handed the doorman their tickets and found their seats. Tenaya ended up sitting next to Daisuki and Kikumaru, thank god. If she had been forced to sit between Daisuki and Genma, she'd probably puke on blindingly white shoes.

Although Tenaya, WAS a huge basketball fan, she found her attention drifting elsewhere during the entire game. The rest of them were getting really into the game, but Tenaya couldn't find the spirit. She was wondering if indeed Ryoma was being jealous, or just being moody. She frowned and her anger rose a little when she remembered that he was who she offered the chance to first, and that he had been the one to refuse. That loser. Now she felt guilty.

Before she know it, the game was over, and all four of them gathered their coats and scarves and headed out into the cold air. Since Daisuki and Genma had been on their best behavior that night, and completely un-annoying, she decided that they deserved at least SOME respect. So she chatted with them a little on the way back to the train station, although making sure to include Kikumaru in the conversation. They talked about sports, school, and laughed at each other's jokes. Tenaya found that they were actually more than just big-headed jocks, although they had done an excellent job of hiding that until now.

"Why aren't you like this at school?" Tenaya asked Daisuki.

He looked at her, eyes widening. "Like how?"

"Like how you are right now. You know, more friendly and stuff."

He shrugged. "Because, I guess, we have a reputation to keep up. I know it sounds selfish, but Genma and I hold our reputations in high honor, and we would really like to keep it."

She smiled. "I see." By this time, they had reached the train station, and they were to take different trains. So she gave Daisuki and Genma a quick hug each, and waved good-bye to their shining faces.

"Hm." Kikumaru said as they sat down. "Those two aren't as bad as I thought."

Tenaya smiled. "Yeah. I guess, people are different depending on who they're around."

Kikumaru looked down at her and smiled mischievously.

"What?" She asked curiously.

"Nothing." He said, turning around with a small grin still hinting on his lips.

Tenaya frowned, and once again leaned her head on Kikumaru's arm, thinking about what she had just said. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep. Next thing she knew, Kikumaru was shaking her awake. He led her sleepily to her house, and said good-bye to her on her doorstep.

"Bye Eiji-san. I had a lot of fun with you, thanks for coming with me tonight." She smiled sleepily, and gave him a hug.

He smiled back. "No problem." He turned and went down the porch steps. He turned to face her when he got to the bottom. "Just…think about it kay?" And with that, he turned back around and disappeared into the night.

a/n: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOKMGOMGOMG I AM SOOOOOOOOOO sorry guys! I realize that I have been the worst author in the entire frickin world! I know that I haven't updated for like, 3 whole months, and I apologize. But the beginning of school has just been so busy, with high school and all, I just haven't found time to really sit down and write. But like I said before, I AM gonna finish this fic. I apologize again for not updating. IF you guys gave me some kind of contact (email or something), I could send you a message every time I update a chapter so that you guys wouldn't have to keep checking back to find no new chapters. I'm willing to do that because I know what a crappy updater I am.

Okay, and some notes:

-Yeah, the years are all mixed up. If Ryoma and Tenaya are in 8th grade, then Fuji, and Kikumaru, and many others should already be out of middle school. But I just didn't like the thought of them as 7th graders, so 8th grade was my only choice.

-Tenaya IS supposed to have a uniform, but she refuses to wear one. The teachers just decided that since she's not a permanent student anyway, they don't bother her about it.

Thanks to:

TypicallyAznGurl: I'm sorry for the slow updating. Hope you continue to read though!

Devry: Thank you! Sorry for the big time gap, please enjoy.

Devilz-Fallen: Thank you! Maru-Sue-ish? 0.o

Joymouse-8675309: Thanks sis, keep reading!

Invisible-gurl: Thank you for always reviewing! Please keep it up, I love reading reviews!

Again,

SORRY TO ALL!

I promise to be better


	12. That Sport I Loved

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Chapter 11

That Sport I loved

Disclaimer: I don't own POT or CRACK, or WEED or anything else illegal okaiz?

Narrator's POV 

"RYOMA!" Nanjiro yelled up at his son who was still sleep in bed. "WAKE UP, AND COME DOWNSTAIRS!" And with that, went back to his Sunday paper. Or rather, the playboy magazine hidden in the Sunday paper, Tenaya had noticed.

Tenaya winced, and rubbed her poor ears. She shook her hair out of her face and stuck her hands in her jeans. She had decided to wear jeans today instead of her usual cargo pants because, well….she just felt like it. Paired with her fitted black jeans was a big, baggy, dark grey ETHEREAL shirt that she had tied in the back with a rubber band. She left her long dark brown hair the way it was, only brushing it and nothing else, and had left all of her earrings out of her ears today. On her left wrist she wore a neon pink wristband that had a big, black C on it, since she had borrowed it from her brother (haha), and had a silver snake ring on her right thumb. On her feet were a pair of black Etnies with lavender laces.

Tenaya was not one to pay much attention to what she wore. Once in a while, on special occasions, she put on something _somewhat _more formal. But no matter what she wore, she almost always looked great. On most days, such as today, she just pulled on whatever she could happen to find in her heap of clothing, and could always make it work. Needless to say, today was no exception, and Tenaya was looking gorgeous.

Or at least, that was the first thought that ran through Ryoma's foggy head as he stumbled down the stairs in his pajamas. He rubbed his eyes, and stared again at Tenaya, standing at the bottom of the stairs in all her glory. He blinked. He'd never seen her wear jeans before, and they looked really good on her. Her hair was looking unusually soft, and her perfectly chiseled face was smiling. _At him._

"Good morning!" She said, as chipper as ever. If Tenaya had been the type of person to hold a grudge, then Ryoma would probably be in for it. But she wasn't.

He smiled down at her. "Hi." He said, now all of a sudden regretting his crappy behavior towards her last week, and wanting to make it up to her. "What's up?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Well, you finally are. Now get dressed, I wanna go somewhere!"

Ryoma looked down, and blushed as he found that he was still in his pajamas. "Alright," he said, turning around and jogging up the steps. "Be right back!"

Tenaya chuckled. She thought he looked cute in his dark green pajamas. They made his green eyes stand out more, not like their usual brown-unless-you-got-right-up-in-his-face green. "Wear something green!" She yelled up at him.

"Why!" He yelled back.

"CUZ!" She smirked to herself. "I said so!"

"Okay!" Came a muffled reply of him tugging his green shirt on. He shook his messy black hair out of his face and quickly ran his brush through it. He threw on some black pants, and slipped into his Adidas, running back down the stairs to where Tenaya was waiting.

He came to a stop before her and smiled. She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Growth spurt?" She asked.

He blinked. "Huh?"

She shrugged. "You're like, almost taller than me now."

"Oh." He frowned. She was right, maybe he did have a growth spurt. Tenaya laughed and looked at his sparkling green eyes. "Wear green more often kay?" She said and turned around to open the front door.

He frowned again as he followed after her. "Right." He muttered to himself, closing the door after him.

They had decided to go to the mall and hang out there. After all, the temperature outside was dropping into the lower-fifties, and neither of them had remembered to bring a jacket. So they ran, shivering, into Central Mall, and warmed up. They walked around the bottom level of the mall, just people-watching for a little while. After strolling around for about half an hour, they had warmed up enough to get some ice cream. They found a small, cozy ice cream shop and sat down in a little booth in the corner. After a few moments, the waitress brought Tenaya her peppermint sundae, and Ryoma his chocolate-coffee ice cream bowl.

"Tenaya?" Ryoma asked, taking a bite of his ice cream.

"Yeah?" She said, with a mouth full of her sundae.

"Um, when are you leaving?" He asked hesitantly.

She smirked at him. "What, can't wait for me to go huh?"

Ryoma shook his head. "No, of course not! It's just that, um…I don't really want you to go." He finished meekly.

She stared at him for a few moments, and then smiled warmly. "I'm leaving in about a month. Shortly after New Year's." She wiped her mouth on a napkin. "Yep. Then it's back to America for me." Her heart sunk slightly at the thought of it. Even she had forgotten that she was to leave soon. She had had so much fun in Japan that she didn't really want it to end. She picked at the melted ice cream gathering at the sides of her glass with a spoon.

Ryoma glanced at Tenaya's sad face, and decided to change the subject. "So the talent show…thinking about trying out?"

"I don't know…maybe. What about you?" Tenaya asked.

Ryoma shook his head. "The only thing I'm good at is tennis, and I can't exactly play that onstage."

Tenaya laughed. "You're not good at anything else? Oh c'mon, there must be something."

He stared blankly at her.

"Um, magic tricks?"

He blinked.

"Okay. Singing?"

He scooped up more ice cream. "Possibly. I don't think I'm very good at singing."

She sat up, excited. "Oh, you could sing, and I could play guitar for you! How's that?"

He shrugged. "What song?"

She took a small stick of candy cane out of her ice cream and sucked on it thoughtfully. "Dunno. We can work it out. Okay, c'mon let's switch."

"Huh?" He replied, cluelessly.

"Ice creams!" She said, pushing her sundae over to him and retrieving his. They both ate a spoonful of each other's ice cream, and simultaneously stuck out their tongues, making a face. Peppermint and chocolate-coffee didn't mix very well.

They returned each other's ice cream and finished them. After paying, they headed back into the mall. They decided to just walk around. After all, when you're in Japan, it's not like there's not enough Japanese street fashioners strolling around. Tenaya found the fashion here especially fascinating. She loved the colors, and chains, and ripped shirts, but most of all, the hairstyles.

"I don't really want you to leave." Ryoma's sad voice cut through her thoughts. She looked over at him, walking with his head tilted downward and his gorgeous black hair partially veiling his beautiful face. She smiled, and gently slipped her hand into his. "Me neither. But it's all good, we'll have fun while I'm still here!" She replied, smiling brightly.

Ryoma laughed, squeezed her hand, and brightened when she gently squeezed back. They continued walking, hand in hand, through the mall, laughing every once in a while when they saw something funny. Girls stopped to stare at Ryoma in all of his green-eyed, tennis-tanned hotness, and guys drooled at the sight of Tenaya with her gorgeous face, streaming hair and sparkling, grey eyes. Hand in hand, looking like a match made in heaven. What a sight.

After a while, Ryoma and Tenaya ran into Fuji and Tezuka who were shopping in the sports store. She ignored the group of girls gathered around the two of them, gawking.

"Hey guys!" Tenaya called and pulled Ryoma over to them. Fuji and Tezuka turned, and brightened at the sight of the two.

"Hi." Fuji said, and smiled. He looked down at where their hands connected, and grinned to himself. How cute, he thought. "What's up?"

"Not much. We're just walking around. Nothing better to do on a Sunday." She smiled up at him brightly, and dropping Ryoma's hand.

Ryoma looked at Tenaya's smiling face. Earlier, he had been in heaven, and the whole world seemed to revolve around them two, and it had seemed like Tenaya thought so too. But now he wasn't so sure. She looked really happy to see Fuji, and didn't even seem to acknowledge him anymore. He dejectedly stuck his hands in his pockets, and tuned out the rest of Fuji and Tenaya's conversation.

Tenaya turned to face Tezuka after chatting with Fuji. "Hey Tezuka? I was wondering, if I could just…decline your little job offer? You know, the girls tennis team coach one?" She said, wincing slightly.

He blinked. "I don't see why not."

She stared at him, mouth open. "What! You make it sound like not such a big deal now!"

He shrugged. "Well, it never really was."

She sighed. "And I endured all that…" she muttered, under her breath.

"What was that?" He asked. But she just shook her head, and brightened. "Anyway," Tezuka continued. "I was wondering if you'd play some tennis for us. I mean, just for fun, for us to see how good you are." He pushed his glasses up his nose. At this, Ryoma perked up. Afterall, he did really want to see Tenaya play some tennis. Possibly even play her.

Tenaya sighed. She decided that maybe it was time to let go of her dad's feelings, and have some fun. Afterall, she did owe something to them. "Fine. Next week. I promise."

The week passed slowly, seeming to drag on. On Thursday, the team gathered for Seigaku team practice. Today was the day that Tenaya had promised them she would play. For once, even Momo was on time, for they all were waiting to see Tenaya in action. They stretched anxiously, all hoping that maybe they could get the chance to play her. All except Ryoma. He was sitting against the tree with his hat tilted over his eyes, drinking Ponta in the tree's shade.

Tenaya walked out of the girls locker room dressed and ready to go with her Prince tennis racket in it's bag, swinging from her shoulder. She had a brown Element camisole on, and baggy black basketball shorts. But instead of Nikes, or Adidas, she had on her usual etnies. In fact, she looked pretty much like her normal self, except her shorts weren't made from jeans. Well, when you asked for a sporty Tenaya, this was what you got.

She came to a stop before them, and smirked, unzipping her tennis racket bag, and extracting her tennis racket. She gripped it in her hand, and reveled at the familiar feeling. She smiled, and the feeling she had used to love came rushing back. She jumped up and down, suddenly pumped. "Alright!" She called out, laughing. "Bring it on, losers!"

They stared at her, and then smiled. "I wanna play her!" Were the scattered yells heard among the team. Tezuka cleared his throat. He was about to announce Fuji to play Tenaya, but right when he opened his mouth, Fuji cut him off with a whisper. "Let Ryoma play her." Tezuka looked down at Fuji's serene, smiling face. "He really wants to, trust me." Tezuka shrugged. "Okay, everybody, court 2! Tenaya versus Ryoma!"

Disappointed groans were heard but they were soon replaced by playfuls arguments, everyone putting their bet on who would win the match. "Warm up!" Tezuka yelled, and Ryoma and Tenaya each headed onto the court, starting to hit back and forth to warm up.

Ryoma served the ball underhand over to Tenaya's side, anticipating the worse. But when it reached Tenaya, and she swung her racket, she hit it on the rim of her racket and watched as it sailed up into the air and over into the next court. She sweatdropped. Talk about rusty.

The team was silent, all with dumbfounded looks on their faces, including Ryoma. Tenaya sighed, and got into her ready position, this time serving underhand to Ryoma. "Give me a break," she said, before hitting the ball. "I haven't played in 2 years."

Ryoma shook himself out of his trance and gently hit the ball back to Tenaya. This time, Tenaya concentrated, brought the racket back into the ready position, and swung perfectly through her normal stroke, meeting the ball exactly in the middle of the sweet spot, sending it zooming back to Ryoma's side, just barely 2 inches over the top of the net. She smiled joyously. Now she wondered why she had waited so long to experience this feeling again. How could she have stopped playing tennis when it was such a wonderful feeling? Ryoma, a little surprised, returned the ball weakly back to Tenaya, and Tenaya hit her powerful stroke again. Tenaya and Ryoma made great rallying partners, each person's strength almost exactly the same. After a few minutes of rallying, they both walked toward the net to decide sides.

Tenaya won the racket flip, and chose the receiving side. She walked over to the right side of the court, and got into her ready position. She watched as Ryoma jumped gracefully into the air, hitting the spin serve that she had anticipated the whole time. She quickly back-pedaled, putting distance between her and the net. When the spin serve hit the ground, Tenaya was already almost 8 feet behind where she normally stood, ready and waiting for the ball to drop again from it's upward spin. And when it did, she swung her racket, watching as the ball went zooming back to Ryoma's side with her own spin plus the spin leftover from Ryoma's serve. It bounced on Ryoma's side, and immediately changed direction to the left, just out of Ryoma's reach. Tenaya spun her racket and smiled. "15 for me." She whispered to herself, walking over to the deuce side court.

While Tenaya and Ryoma battled on, the team watched in utter enthrallment. They had never anticipated Tenaya to be so good. She was better than Ryoma, not by much, but still noticeably better. Fuji smiled at the pure look of joy on Tenaya's face as she hit ball after ball. She was definitely good. Better than him, probably not quite as good as Tezuka, but who knows?

Inui was completely in his own world, not seeing anything but the ongoing match. He was scribbling furiously in his book. Tenaya was matched with Ryoma in speed, slightly more power than him, better footwork, great eye for the ball, and very exact hand-eye coordination. He looked up from his notebook. But that wasn't it, he smiled. He had learned a long time ago, that tennis wasn't just a technical sport. Tenaya looked so happy when she was playing, that it seemed like nobody in the world could stop her. He closed his notebook and tucked it under his arm, watching Tenaya play with endless energy.

Tezuka himself was deeply impressed. She would have made an excellent coach, he thought. He could just tell by the enthusiasm she had for the sport. He watched her precise movements, and exact footsteps. The way she played seemed almost familiar. Suddenly, his brain clicked. Tenaya Rialles, Tenaya Rialles. Where had he heard that name before?

A/N: Well, like I said, I'm trying to be a little faster at updating, because as a reader, I hate waiting too long for the next chapter. So yeah, hope you all liked this chappie I worked pretty hard on it. From now on, I can just about do a 2 chapters a month. Yeah, doesn't sound like much, but that's the fastest I can work.

Thank you all reviewers!


	13. Through His Eyes

A/n: Ok well, SUPER CHEESY one coming up for you guys. Try not to gag on this fluff guys, it's pretty thick.

Translate This

Through his eyes

Disclaimer: I wish I owned POT, which means I currently don't. Right? Right.

Tenaya and Ryoma had been playing for almost an hour, but neither one seemed to notice. They were having so much fun that nothing else seemed to matter. The team hadn't gotten bored either, for it was basically impossible to tire of watching Ryoma and Tenaya have the time of their lives.

**Tenaya's POV**

I could feel my energy growing and growing as the game continued, until it had gotten to a certain point. As soon as I reached that point, I was automatically reminded of Regionals. Suddenly, Ryoma's figure melded into the familiar figure of my Regionals opponent, a 16 year old blonde Russian girl with the temper of a caveman. I grimaced at her. She had been a particularly tough opponent. She wasn't quite as fast, because of her bulk, but her strength was much greater than mine. It took all of my strength to return her balls. At that point, I had thought for sure that I'd run out of energy before the game ended.

I concentrated on Lisa, which was the girls name, although in the back of my head, I knew it was Ryoma. My body was not conscious of that though, because it was living in the past. I smiled, hitting an overhead, I remembered the pride I felt when that last overhead won the game for me. I nearly collapsed on my way to the podium, but I was so excited for my chance to compete at nationals that I forced myself to stay up. But I was most proud when I passed my dad, who had a priceless look on his face. His expression was a mixture of pride, joy, understanding, excitement, and yet somehow, there was a trace of sadness. I had never understood why though.

My heart dropped when I finally realized that he was sad because of his sickness. I tried focusing my attention on Ryoma, but my mind continued drifting. My mom had told me that my dad had found out about his disease just before the end of Regionals. And that he had kept quiet so that I could still do my best. My vision of Ryoma blurred as I remembered our car ride on the way home from Regionals. My dad showered me with praise, making me just about the happiest kid on Earth, but when he took that huge sigh, signaling the beginning of bad news, I knew that there was something wrong. My dad was dying. My DAD, my father, my mentor, my everything was dying. And what hurt most was that I had no control over any of it. It didn't matter that I was holding a gleaming first trophy in my hands. It didn't matter that I was now the most talked about kid in the tennis world, because the one person who I wanted to be proud of me was dying.

I remember nights when he would want to read me a story in front of the fireplace, and I would say no and leave, only to read more books on tennis technique. When he'd have a  
"bring your daughter to work" day at his company, and I refused to go because of a scheduled tennis practice with my friends. I loved him, but I loved tennis too. And I was too caught up in my sport to pay him any attention until it was too late.

I hit the ball as hard as I could towards Ryoma, who didn't even bother returning it, for he knew it was going to be long. And it was. I took a gulping sob, and rested my hands on my knees. Fortunately, nobody had heard me, and I hid behind my hair to make sure that nobody would. It wasn't fair of me to do this. I shouldn't be playing tennis, I thought. When my dad had died and I was too busy playing this stupid sport. My tears dripped from my face and onto the dark red of the court, turning it an even darker shade. I quickly wiped my eyes and got ready again, for Ryoma's serve.

But I couldn't stop thinking about my dad. Why was I playing tennis! Why wasn't I doing something more productive with my time? "No." I whispered as I hit my perfected one-hand backhand stroke. The only one-handed backhand in all of the girls' division back in America, and some of the guys as well. I hit it perfectly, and my anger rose even more. I thought about the days when I'd totally blow off previous plans to perfect that stroke. And now it was perfect, and who did I have to show it to? Nobody. This was stupid, I thought, the whole court becoming blurry through my tears. "No, I shouldn't be playing." I said hoarsely. "Dad…I'm sorry." I whispered. I concentrated on the ball coming towards me despite my will. As much as I wanted to tear my attention away, I couldn't. I took my forehand swing, and with all my might, swung through the ball. "NO!" I screamed as my racket hit the ball, sending it into a perfect shot over to Ryoma's side. I sobbed. How I hated myself.

**Narrator's POV**

Ryoma wiped his brow, concentrating hard on Tenaya's swing. She was so good, it was almost unbelievable. He was getting extremely worn out, but he couldn't show it. It took so much strength to even run, but he had to win. It was just…a Ryoma thing.

Ryoma had thought Tenaya had been becoming more and more strange over the last half an hour. Her mood had gone dramatically from happiness and excitement to anger and frustration. And when she had hit that long shot, he had thought he heard her cry out, but he thought that that was just in anger for making such a mistake. He had watched as water dripped onto the court, not knowing if it was sweat or tears. He had watched, but had found out nothing.

But it was the last straw when Tenaya hit that perfect shot, and still screamed "NO!" He let the ball zoom past him, not even trying to return it, to watch as Tenaya crumbled to the ground in a heap of tears. She had let her arm fall, letting the racket fall down in front of her pool of brown hair. She stayed there, on the side of her knees, sobbing. Ryoma's heart broke at the sight of it, and he automatically dropped his racket and ran over to her side. Although, the whole team had already gathered around her.

So he stood at the side, hiding his anxiety by hiding his hands in his pockets. He watched in anticipation as the team crowded around Tenaya's fallen figure, asking what was wrong.

His face crumpled into a mask of pain, hurt by the fact that he could do absolutely nothing to help the girl he…..

**Narrator's POV**

Tezuka had been watching her, running her name over and over in his head. And before long, he had remembered. He leaned over to tell Fuji, before he forgot again.

"Hey Fuji," He whispered.

Fuji looked up at him in a look of wondering.

Tezuka continued. "Have you ever heard of Tenaya's name elsewhere?" Fuji shook his head.

"Well, I finally remembered where I've heard of her before. She was 2002 USA Regionals girls' champion! I remember, because the news had said she was half Japanese, which caught my attention."

Fuji's eyes widened and he turned to look at Tenaya. "Are you sure?"

Tezuka nodded. "Positive. But that's not the big part. I remember reading a few months later that she had withdrawn from the Nationals competition although she had an excellent chance of becoming the youngest person to win the Nationals. I did some more research then to find out why, and I discovered that her dad had died not long before Nationals started, and she withdrew because of the overwhelming pain of it. It said that she had some past regrets that linked to her dad, and because of those, vowed never to play tennis again, no matter how much she loved the sport."

"Which was a whole lot by the looks of it." Fuji looked over at Tenaya again with a look of amazement in his open, royal blue eyes. "I had no idea…but then, why is she playing now?" But as soon as he said that, he heard a cry from her, and looked over to see her laying on the floor, sobbing. His breath caught in his throat, and he ran as fast as he could through the gate, jumping over Tenaya's strewn racket to reach Tenaya's side. He gently stroked her hair, reveling in how soft it was.

But he shook his head of the unimportant thoughts, and looked up as the rest of the team had caught up and were now also surrounding Tenaya. He looked over at Tezuka who bent down next to him. Tenaya meant a lot to Fuji, and he really didn't want to see her hurt.

He looked over at Ryoma, standing over to the side with a look of utter pain on his face. Fuji's smiled grimly. Looked like he had competition.

Tezuka picked Tenaya up, bridal style, and stood slowly up. Tenaya tried to quiet her sobs and wrapped her arms around Tezuka's neck, gently burying her face in Tezuka's warm chest. She didn't really know who was holding her, all she could think about was her father and how he disappointed he would have been at this moment.

The team all stood around and watched as Tezuka (slightly blushing) carried Tenaya's crying figure into the school.

**Tenaya's POV**

I blinked slowly and opened my eyes. I sat up so fast, I almost gave myself whiplash. I rubbed my semi-swollen eyes and looked around. I was in my room. I frowned. How did I get here? I thought about it for a little while, but couldn't remember anything. I lay back down and closed my eyes. The last thing that happened was…..

My eyes snapped open. I had been playing tennis when…I…collapsed? Yeah. That was it. I sighed. I was such a crybaby. Can't believe I collapsed. I looked over at the clock. 5:35 p.m. it said. I had been asleep for about an hour and a half.

I heard a light knock on my door and turned to see my mom, peeking into my room. Her face was soft with worry, but lightened when I smiled at her. "How are you feeling honey?" She asked gently.

I kept smiling lightly. "Better."

She came in and sat down on the bed. "I'm glad. I heard from the tennis team captain who brought you home, who's a cutie by the way…"

I rolled my eyes. Mom was always mom.

"Well anyways, I heard that you had collapsed while…playing tennis."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "Yep. I know, it's weird, I haven't played tennis for 3 years."

She stroked my cheek. "Yeah, but I'm glad you've started playing again. Your dad would be happy."

I looked up at her, slightly surprised. My mom almost never spoke of my dad. I turned to face the wall as I heard the doorbell rang. My mom leaned over to kiss me on the forehead, and went downstairs to answer the door. Right after she left, Carter knocked lightly on my open bedroom door, and came in followed by Joan. I smiled at them, opening up my arms towards them. They both leaned down to give me a hug, and then sat down on the bed next to me.

"Hey sis, how're you feeling?" Carter asked, gently holding my hand.

I smiled. "I'm good, don't worry you guys, I'm fine."

Joan frowned. "Well yeah, we heard that you collapsed at school. That doesn't sound too good to me."

I smirked. "Guys, trust me, I'm fine."

"Okay, well good, just wanted to make sure. But I got a lot of homework." Joan smiled warmly, and kissed me on the cheek. "By the way," she whispered in my ear. "Who's that guy who brought you home? Whatta hunk."

I rolled my eyes. "Tezuka, the tennis team coach. You'd like him, he's a sport freak too. Well, only tennis, I heard he's really good."

Joan got back up and groaned. "Yeah great, the only sport I'm NOT good at. See ya sis." She said, waving.

I waved back, while Carter scooted closer to me on the bed. "So you're playing tennis again huh? Finally."

I smiled at him. "Yep. Three long years later." I sighed.

He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. "You know, Mom's right, Dad would be happy." He got up and left, leaving to myself. Although, not for long, because Mom stuck her head back in a few moments later. "Ryoma's here." She said. "Is it okay for him to come up?"

I nodded.

**Narrator's POV**

A few moments later, Ryoma came into Tenaya's room. His hair was wet, as he had just taken a shower. Tennis practice always made him all sweaty and gross. "Hey." He said quietly.

"Hi." Tenaya replied, smiling lightly and patting the space next to her on her bed. Ryoma walked over and sat down hesitantly.

"How are you feeling?"

Tenaya played with the ends of her hair. "I'm fine."

They remained in silence for a little while, Tenaya just playing with her hair, and Ryoma sitting there watching her. Unknown to him, a million thoughts were running through her head, and were becoming too much. He saw a tear escape her eye, and roll down the side of her face onto the pillow. He scooted closer, and took her hand away from her hair, and held it. "What happened?" He asked gently.

She didn't reply at first. And he thought that she wasn't going to tell him, so he made to leave. But right when he tried to stand up, she held onto his hand tighter, and he sat back down. She moved over so that her head lay partially in his lap. She held onto one of his hands with both of hers, and his other hand started gently stroking her hair.

"It's just that," Her voice broke, and more tears flowed down her face. She quickly wiped them away. "Well, I guess I'll tell you, if you really want to know." With that, she glanced up hesitantly at Ryoma's face. He smiled and nodded, continuing to stroke her hair.

She took a deep breath. "Okay. Well, I've been playing tennis for a long time. Almost my whole life. My dad…he was my coach. No, more than that, he was like my best friend almost. He was great at tennis, and he taught me to love it as much as he did. And yeah, I did fall in love with the sport. How could you not?" She smiled lightly. "Anyway, in 2002, I decided to go to Regionals to compete. I was in the teen girls' section, although I was only 11. But I was doing really well, and I started climbing up the ladder until finally, it was the day of the finals.

"For the final match, I played this huge Russian girl, who was really good. And I won. I couldn't believe it." She sniffled, closing her eyes and reveling at the feeling of Ryoma's gentle hands through her hair. "And so of course, I was heading for Nationals. If I won, I would've been the youngest competitor to win the teens division. But that summer," and here, her voice cracked again. Ryoma gently pushed a tendril of hair away from her face, encouraging her to continue.

"That summer, my dad got sick. He got really, really sick. But despite of his cancer, I kept training. I completely ignored him. Well, not completely, but I was so focused on Nationals. I never thought that my dad would die. But yeah, that's what he did. Two weeks before Nationals, he died in his sleep." Tenaya shook her head, the tears now flowing freely. "I was so mad at myself that I vowed to never play tennis again, including at the Nationals. As you might know, today was the first day in 3 years. I felt great at first, I was so completely happy at the feeling of being able to play tennis again. But after a while, the memories started flooding back, and I just…collapsed."

She stayed silent for a while. Ryoma leaned down on top of her and hugged her gently. "Thanks for telling me."

She smiled shakily and wiped her eyes. "You probably think I'm a pathetic little crybaby." She said, with a sobbing laugh.

He shook his head. "Of course I don't. I think…you've been through so much…that I can't help but wonder how you keep smiling everyday."

She looked up at his sparkling green eyes. In the background was the sun setting through her window. She sat up slowly and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her face up to meet his. A light peachy scent washed over him, and he stiffened, as she drew closer and closer. But she only kissed him on the cheek, and then rested her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, slightly disappointed, but still extremely happy. But despite his giddy feeling, he stayed put, holding Tenaya gently. They stayed like that, until Tenaya had fallen asleep. Ryoma gently lay Tenaya back down onto the bed, lightly placing her head back onto the pillow. He pulled the covers up, and wiped her tear streaked cheeks. He sat there and looked at her for a while. Her grey eyes were hidden behind closed eyelids, with thick, long, dark lashes that fluttered against her evenly colored, smooth cheeks every now and then. Her perfect lips were slightly parted as she slept. He smiled, resisting the urge to really kiss her.

Maybe it was just him, but when he looked at Tenaya, he saw a goddess. One, he thought sadly, that would have to return to her home soon. He stood up and exited her room, closing the door lightly. He walked back down the stairs, waved a goodbye to Tenaya's mom, and out the door into the setting sun. She would leave soon, ending her short, but sweet visit from heaven.

A/n: Okay, how was it? Glad you guys got through the cheese alive.

Thank you all reviewers, I love reading the reviews :


	14. The Singing Chicken

"Oh my…" Tenaya gasped, looking down at the little sheet of paper in her hands. "…what!" she finished.

"What?" Ryoma asked, taking the paper away from her and peering down at it himself. His eyes widened. He turned to look at her.

"The talent show is in 3 days!"

"I know!" She turned to look back at him. "That's like, 2 weeks earlier! What the he-"

"Due to uncareful planning?" Ryoma read off. "That's their excuse?"

"Oh man." Tenaya rested her forehead in her propped up hand. "We were going to do something right?"

Ryoma shrugged. "We don't have to…"

Tenaya got up from her seat at the lunch table. "But I promised Fuji that I would. And you promised me that you would perform with me." She picked up her tray. "So there."

He groaned. "But what are we going to do? We don't even know our talent yet!"

She half placed, half slammed her tray back down onto the table. "I'm playing the guitar remember? And weren't you going to sing or something?"

He looked mortified. "Not by myself! I don't wanna sing by myself!"

Tenaya sat down next to him and rolled her eyes. "You big wimp. Fine, how about I sing with you? Or better yet, get some teammates to sing with you?"

Ryoma made a face at her. "Like who?"

She shrugged. "Anybody. Kikumaru, Momo, Fuji. Whoever you want."

He sighed at picked at his mashed potatoes. "Fine. I'll do it. But you ask the guys okay? You can pick whoever you want."

She smiled, and picked up her tray. "Deal."

"Psst." Tenaya glanced around her history class, making sure the teacher was busy. Ryoma was sitting next to her, reading his text book, and Oishi was sitting diagonally to the right of her, taking notes.

"Hey!" She whispered as loud as she dared. "Oishi!"

He turned around slowly to look at her with a puzzled look on his face. As soon as he did, Tenaya threw a rolled up piece of paper, and Oishi stumbled to catch it, almost dropping his eraser in the process.

He looked at her strangely, but opened the note, reading what it had to say.

"-Oishi.

Me and Ryoma are planning to do a talent show act together. I'm playing an instrument, and Ryoma's singing. But Ryoma doesn't want to sing by himself so I was wondering if you wanted to sing with him?"

-Tenaya"

He smiled, and then blushed. He had always been a fairly good singer, but was too shy to do it in public. He took a deep breath, and wrote a small yes on the paper, before passing it back to Tenaya. He watched out of the corner of his eye as he watched her read it and smile, before turning back around. Despite feeling slightly giddy, he turned back to his notes. Who knew Oishi could sing?

"Come on people, RUN!" Tezuka yelled after the stumbling Seigaku team. Tenaya winced, for she was standing only a few feet away from him. It was a wonder that he never lost his voice

"Hey Tezuka?" She walked over to him, her half ponytail swinging softly as she walked. "I have a favor to ask."

He turned to look at her, and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Yes Tenaya?"

"Um…I was wondering if you wanted to sing with me, Ryoma, and Oishi at the talent show?"

He blinked. "Sing? As in, the music sing?"

She nodded.

He frowned. "Well, I'm not that bad at it…so I guess."

"Yay!" Tenaya's face brightened. "We're gonna rehearse tomorrow afternoon, since there's no tennis. Do you know where my house is?"

He nodded.

"Alright, see you then!"

"You can't sing?" Tenaya pouted.

Kikumaru shook his head, drying off his neck with his towel. "Nope, not to save my life. Sorry to disappoint you."

She smiled at him. "Oh, no big deal, it's fine! As long as you come to watch us."

He smiled and nodded. "Of course!"

Tenaya walked around, looking for Fuji. Practice had just ended, and she was patrolling the tennis courts, looking for Fuji-san. "Ah." She said, spotting a blob of brown hair behind the water faucets. She strolled over, and leaned on the side of the sink, waiting for Fuji to finish washing his face.

"Hi!" She said, greeting him.

He smiled at her while drying his neck. "Hey. What's up?"

"Well I wanted to ask you something."

He nodded, signaling for her to continue.

"Okay remember the talent show? Well Ryoma doesn't want to sing by himself so I was wondering if you wanted to sing with him? Tezuka and Oishi-san have agreed to sing too."

Fuji pondered on that for a second. "I don't see why not…"

"Great!" She said, reaching over to give him a quick hug. I'll see you tomorrow then? We're gonna practice at my house."

He nodded and smiled at her. "Sounds good."

She turned to leave, before remembering something, and cursed under her breath. She turned back to Fuji and opened her mouth to start when he interrupted.

"What is this 'shit' that you say?" He asked, wondering about her choice of curse words.

"Huh?"

He laughed. "Nevermind. Continue."

Tenaya smiled. "Okay um…well since this is kinda short notice, I don't have a song yet…so I still needed to write it. I know Ryoma was supposed to go out to eat dinner with his dad and cousin today, so I was wondering if you wanted to come over now and help out."

He nodded. "Now?'

"Yep. Are you ready?"

Fuji wiped his face one last time and stuffed the towel into his tennis bag. "Yeah, let's go."

Ryoma grumbled under his breath. "Stupid tie…" he mumbled, trying to tie his tie. He sighed. "Stupid dinner party…" He slipped into his shoes, and walked downstairs stiffly in his new suit. Just because some friend of his dad's came into town, meant another formal dinner party for the Echizens. Great, just great.

"Ryoma!" Nanjiro called. "We're leaving in ten minutes okay!"

"Alright dad!" Ryoma replied, then after getting an idea, added "I'll be right back!" Before heading out the door towards Tenaya's house. She just had to see him in a suit, considering how rare of a situation it was.

He rang the doorbell and stood waiting on the steps.

After hearing cries of laughter and running footsteps from inside the house, the door opened and a breathless Tenaya stood in the doorway. Her eyes widened at the sight of Ryoma in a suit. "Hey!" She smiled, leaning forward to give him a hug. "You look great!"

Ryoma smiled. "You think so? I really don't want to go to this dinner party but my dad's making me."

"Oh well, you'll have fun. Just a family get together right?"

He shrugged. "Sort of I guess. So yeah, sorry about not being able to help you out with writing the song. I feel bad for making you do it alone."

She smiled and waved it away. "Oh no, it's fine. Plus I'm not doing it alone."

He frowned. "Who's helping then?"

At that moment, Fuji stepped breathlessly into the doorway next to her and pretended to start tickling her. She laughed, and writhed away, playfully pushing Fuji. "Fuji offered to come over and help. Except, I admit, we haven't really gotten anything done yet." She laughed and dodged Fuji's swift hands.

Ryoma looked from Fuji's royal blue eyes, which were twinkling with mirth, and Tenaya's misty grey ones, which shined with laughter. His hands clenched at his sides, all of a sudden even more angry with his dad and his stupid dinner parties. "It should be me with Tenaya now," he thought to himself. "Not _Fuji._" But he forced himself to relax and even forced a smile onto his face. Surelyacting jealous in front of the two would only show his feelings for her.

Not that they weren't obvious enough already.

Tenaya spotted a nerve twitching in Ryoma's jaw, and frowned. She waved Fuji away, and said to him "Go wait for me in my room, I'll be right there." He smiled at her and nodded, and padded down the hall to her room. Tenaya turned around and stepped onto the porch next to Ryoma and closed the door. Ryoma watched as her inky brown, almost black hair turn lighter as she stepped into the sunlight. Now it was a medium, dark hazelnut brown, with small traces of golden and black highlights. She smiled and turned towards him, and squinted a little, as she was facing the sunlight. Just as her hair color had changed, her foggy grey eyes turned a clear, grey-ish blue.

"Ryoma? Are you alright?" She asked in a concerned voice.

Ryoma kept his jaw painfully clenched and was careful to keep his gaze from meeting hers. He hated how he always lost to Fuji. Fuji was a better student, more popular with the rest of the students, pretty much best friends with the tennis captain, and a favorite among the teachers. It was really his fault, considering he was some what of a genius child, but it still bothered Ryoma. The only thing in which he was slightly better than Fuji in was tennis, and even then not by much. Fuji constantly won against him.

His thoughts were cut short as Tenaya placed her hand on his tuxedoed arm. His clenched fists relaxed, and he looked up to her face. She smiled slightly at him, and he couldn't help but smile back. A grim smile, but still a smile.

Tenaya leaned forward to give Ryoma a hug. "Have fun alright? Or try to. The song will be good, I promise."

"I know." He whispered and smiled at her. He gently pulled back and walked down the steps, waving a goodbye to Tenaya. She waved in return, and he turned back around. By the time he got to the end of the driveway, he had heard her go back inside, and could already hear her voice conversing with Fuji. "It's okay, they're just friends." He reassured himself as he started down the sidewalk. "Completely platonic."

Yeah right.

A/N: Well, sorry once again for not updating soon. But things haven't exactly been going that well for me lately…Hope you guys liked this chapter, even though it's kinda short.


	15. Sing with me

**ATTENTION! READ THIS.**

This chapter contains two songs. I actually HAVE those two songs. So if you would like, you can write your email address in a review, and I will email these two songs to you so that you can hear the songs as well as read about them.

Translate This

Chapter 14

Sing with me

Disclaimer: I don't own POT or anything else illegal like that.

"Um, no I don't like it." Tenaya shook her head and erased something on her paper. "How about this?"

Fuji shrugged. "You're the professional."

She smiled, scribbled down her idea, and played the tune out on her guitar. "How does that sound?"

"Better." Fuji smiled and nodded.

"Great!" Tenaya said, bending over her paper. "We'll make that the chorus. I'm going for a friendly tune you know?"

Fuji nodded.

"Alright…" Tenaya bit her bottom lip as she scribbled the last of the song, and smiled triumphantly. She then played out the whole song for Fuji on her guitar, and looked up at him in question.

"It sounds great!" He exclaimed. "And I like my part too, thanks."

"No problem." She said, putting her guitar away. "Well thanks for the help with it."

He shook his head and got up. "Nah, I didn't do much."

"Well you kept me company." She smiled. "It's too bad Ryoma had to go to dinner, he would have had fun."

Fuji's face fell. "You wish Ryoma was here?"

Tenaya, missing the look on his face, nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I mean. He's a really good friend and all, and it was originally his song."

Fuji smiled at her, and sat down again on her bed beside her. "So, how do you feel about moving back?"

She sighed and lay down on her bed. "I don't know. It was so fun living here, I wish I didn't have to leave. I mean," she turned to face Fuji. "I've made so many friends here."

Fuji shrugged. "Yeah, we'll definitely miss you. So who would you miss the most?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, don't make me answer that."

He laughed. "You can trust me, honest. So tell me!"

"Alright." She said hesitantly. "The truth is…."

-

**Ryoma's POV**

I looked down at my watch. 8:45. It wasn't too late was it? All I wanted to do was stop by her house and check on her.

You know, see if Fuji had left already or not.

Thankfully, Tenaya opened the door a few minutes later with a smile on her face. "Hi!" She said, opening the door wider. "Come in. How was dinner?"

I rolled my eyes. "Boring. I would've stayed home if I could."

She laughed. "Well, Fuji and I finished the song! Wanna hear?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah, show me."

She sat down on her bed, and pulled out her guitar, and played the tune for him, and sang the lyrics.

I smiled and closed my eyes. Her voice was so clear, like it just cut straight through my mind. And she didn't even have an accent when singing the Japanese lyrics. It sort of came naturally to her I guess.

When the song was done, I opened my eyes and clapped. She smiled. "What do you think?"

"I loved it."

"Oh." She bit her lip. "And one more thing to ask you."

"Shoot."

She took a deep breath. "Ok, well I know that you don't like singing solo, but I really do have a great idea."

I nodded hesitantly. "Go on."

She sighed, and got up. "Follow me." She walked out of her room and lead me to the piano room, where she sat down on the bench. She pulled a sheet of music out from under the bench and set it on the piano. "Can you sing while I play?"

I blushed and squirmed, sitting down next to her. I had never sung in front of anybody before. "Um. I guess."

"Ok." She smiled, and began playing.

Automatically, I was entranced. The melody was so beautiful. "Did she write this?" I thought to myself.

As soon as the beginning intro was over, I started singing the lyrics. At first, they came out sort of quiet, but as we got into the song, I started singing more strongly. It was such a beautiful song. But I still didn't know why she was making me sing it.

As soon as it was over, she turned to look at me and took a deep breath. "Like it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, a lot. But…why…?"

"Well, I wrote this song a long time ago. But I never really found the right voice for it. Carter's voice is a little to deep, and Joan and I have voices that are a little too high. And so, when I first met you, I thought that you would be perfect for this song."

I nodded.

"And so, I really thought that you should sing this for the talent show."

-

**Narrator's POV**

"Ready guys?" Tenaya whispered, looking around at Oishi, Fuji, Tezuka, and Ryoma. "We're on next."

They nodded.

"And now presenting!" The announcer's voice rang out as the curtain was drawn up. "Kuminitsu Tezuka, Echizen Ryoma, Syusuke Fuji, and Sochiro Oishi singing! And Tenaya Rialles playing the guitar!"

Tenaya smiled and sat down on the stool at the side. The four guys positioned themselves on center stage. "Let it begin." Tenaya whispered as she started the first few chords of the song.

TOGETHER

Donna mirai mo hajimari wa 

Kono shunkan

Koko kara hajimaru glory days

RYOMA

Harereta sora

TEZUKA

Shiroku yokogi tta Line

BOTH

Atarashii tobira hiraita

FUJI

Sashi dashita

OISHI

Tewo totte hohoemu

BOTH

Kasukani kanjita mono wa

ALL

Yuujou!  
Sekaijuu no kotoba demo ie naiyou na

ECHIZEN

Irode omoi wo egakou

ALL

Donna mirai mo hajimari wa

Kono shunkan

Koko kara hajimaru glory days

ECHIZEN

Seifuku wo yurashita

OISHI

Kaze wo atsumete

BOTH

Poketto no naki ni shimatta

FUJI

Sugite yuku

TEZUKA

Hibi wo hodoi temitara

BOTH

Ima shika mire nai KOTO ni

ALL

Kizuita

Sekaijuu wo terashiteru kibou ga hora!

TEZUKA

yuuki michibi ite kureru

ALL

Donna mirai no hajimari wa kono shunkan

Koko kara hajimaru glory days

Sekaijuu no kotoba demo ie naiyou na

Irode omoi wo egakou

Donna mirai mo hajimari wa

Kono shunkan

RYOMA

Koko kara

ALL

Hajimaru glory days

Koko kara Hajimaru Glory Days!

END

_(English version)_

_Whatever the future may be from this moment,_

_Our glory days begin from here._

_There is a line under the blue sky,_

_Opening a brand new door_

_As we hold our hands gently with smiling faces_

_We can faintly feel something—friendship!_

_As though there are no words in this world to describe,_

_All of the memories that we share_

_Whatever the future may be from this moment,_

_Out glory days begin from here._

_As we swing our uniforms,_

_The wind brings them together_

_Into a pocket._

_If we try to go toward the sound of our echoes_

_We can feel something which we cannot see._

_If we collect all the hopes in this world, hey,_

_Please lead us to the route of courage_

_Whatever the future may be from this moment_

_Our glory days begin from here._

_As though there are no words in this world to describe,_

_All of the memories that we share_

_Whatever the future may be from this moment,_

_Out glory days begin from here._

_Whatever the future may be from this moment,_

_Our glory days begin from here!_

The song ended with a final strum, and the whole stadium was filled with applauses. The five of them bowed three of them exited the stage.

Tenaya and Ryoma, however, stayed right where they were.

Tenaya put down her guitar and took the mike. "Um." She said, clearing her voice. She waited until the crowd died down. "We have a surprise! Ryoma and I are performing one more song for you guys. It's called "Thank you for". Please enjoy." She put down the mike and sat down behind the piano, and Ryoma smiled at her.

She smiled back warmly, and began the song.

Awai hanabira ga yurete 

_Shizuka ni maiorita toki_

_Kisetsu hakobu chiisa na kaze_

_Boku no naka toorisugita_

_Tsuyosa wo mashita hizashi ga_

_Atarashii jidai wo tsugeru_

_Tashika ni nagareteru toki wo _

_Tometakute hitomi tojita_

_Tooku dara kikoeteru_

_Kikinareta waraigoe_

_Ashita kara wa koko ni inai_

_Tomo ni kakenuketa hito-tachi_

_Kokoro kara omoeru yo_

_Deaete yokatta to_

_Yasashii hibi ga mune wo yogitte wa kieteyuku_

"_omedetou" Doushite mo iesou ni nai kara_

_Koko kara kaze ni nose Sotto tsubuyaku_

_Konna kimochi ga aru koto_

_Shirazu ni ikitekita kedo_

_Odayaka na tanoshii toki ga_

_Sukoshizutsu boku wo kaeta_

_Ano hi ni mebae-hajimeta_

_Tsuyosa e no atsui omoi_

_Ima demo kawaranu hageshisa de_

_Takami dake mezashiteiru_

_Oshietekureta koto_

_Zenbu dakishime nagara_

_Hajimari ga sugu soko ni aru_

_Bokutachi no jidai wo ikiru_

_Kokoro kara omoeru yo Deaete yokatta to_

_Yasashii egao Wasurenai you ni yakitsukete_

_"Arigatou" Kao wo mite iesou ni nai kara_

_COURT ni sotto Chiisaku tsubuyaita_

Ryoma sang the last note and smiled at Tenaya. She smiled back at him.

And nothing but applause could be heard.

-

AN: Sorry guys, I wrote this in a HUGE hurry. I already put at the top that anybody who wanted the songs could say so in a review. Hope you enjoyed!

**The story's coming to an end guys!**

Only a few chapters left.


	16. The Day Before

**Tenaya's POV**

I woke up to find the sun glinting in my eyes. I groaned and rolled over until my face was buried in my pillow. It was the Sunday after the talent show, and I was worn out. After the show last night, a bunch of us had gone to Takashi's sushi shop again to celebrate. I smiled despite being a morning grump. Everyone loved the songs.

Which was good, because I worked on them pretty hard.

I rolled back over, and that's when my phone rang. I frowned and reached over to pick it up. Who calls this early?

"Hello?"

"Tenaya? Hey, it's Fuji."

"Oh. Hey." I sat up. "So what's up?"

"Um, well I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today."

I laughed. "You wanted to hang out with me so bad that you just had to call this early in the morning. Right, of course."

I heard his gentle laughter from the other end. "Tenaya, it's already almost 10 o'clock."

"It is?" I looked at my clock amazingly. "Wow. You're right. Ok I'll get up and get ready."

"Okay, so is it okay if I'm there in like, 20 minutes?"

"Yeah." I said, getting out of bed and stretching. "That's fine. Where are we going?"

"Oh, nowhere special." I could practically hear the smile in his voice. "I just thought we could hang out and talk a bit."

"Alright, that's fine. See you in a little bit then."

"Okay."

"Bye." I said, and hung up. I snatched some clothes and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. I usually spend Sunday's at home with Ryoma, or at Ryoma's house, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind me hanging out with Fuji.

…..

After I had showered, I towel dried my hair, and slipped into some clothes. I was wearing a forest green volcom short-sleeve over a simple dark grey long sleeve shirt. I had beige jeans on, and my favorite brown and pink checkered Vans (I have those!). I brushed my hair, marveling at how straight it was when it was wet. Too bad it didn't stay that way, it always waved out after a while.

After coming downstairs, I snatched a piece of toast from Carter's plate while he was getting milk.

"Hey!"

I smiled, and stuffed it in my mouth. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry." Although it came out like "thuryminahery".

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"Where are you going?" My mom asked from the kitchen. "Spending the day with Ryoma today?"

I shook my head. "Nope, Fuji wanted to hang out."

"Ooh, you're cheating on Ryoma…" Carter smirked.

"Oh stop it." I said, smacking him on the arm on my way out. "I'm not cheating on anybody, I'm not even going out with Ryoma."

"Yeah, but you wish you were."

I stuck out my tongue at him and opened the front door. "See you guys later!"

Just as I stepped onto the front porch, I saw Fuji coming up the street. I smiled and waved. He waved back.

"Hey Fuji." I said, reaching up to give him a small hug.

"Hi Tenaya, how are you?"

"I'm good." I nodded. "So, want to take a walk?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Let's go." He offered me his arm, and I laughed as I linked my arm in his.

…..

"So, was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?" I shouted. I was on the swing set at the park, and we were in a swinging contest. I was winning, of course.

"Uh actually yeah!" He shouted from way up high. "But maybe we should stop swinging!"

"Got it!" I said, and jumped off the swing. "Whee!" I laughed, and lay down on the grass. Who cares about grass stains, my shirt was green anyway. 

Although my pants were a whole other story.

A few moments later, Fuji (who had slowed down the wimpy way by dragging his feet) came and lay down beside me. We lay there for a few minutes catching our breaths. Finally, he said, "So, Tenaya, what are you going to do about Ryoma?"

I bit my lip. Last time when we had been writing the song, I confided in Fuji about my feelings for Ryoma. I had told him that Ryoma had become so much more than a friend to me, but being Ryoma, which mean being quite emotionless, he never really showed me how he felt. Sometimes, he seemed so cold.

"I don't know." I sighed. "I don't think he likes me very much though. He's been ignoring me a lot lately."

Fuji sat up and shook his head. "Well, you're going to tell him how you feel right?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."

"I think you should do it at the dance. It's next Friday you know."

"Oh yeah! Damn, I almost forgot."

"Are you going with Ryoma?" He asked.

I shrugged again. "I have no idea. He hasn't said anything about it. So he probably won't ask me."

"Oh." Fuji picked at the grass. "But you're both going right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we are. It's not a formal dance is it?"

Fuji winced. "Actually, it is."

"Ugh." I groaned and rolled over, placing my head on my arms. "That means I have to find a dress."

"Yep." Fuji laughed and placed a comforting hand on my back. "But it won't be that bad."

"I'll just go with my mom, I guess."

"So, tell him at the dance."

"Not this topic again." I smiled. "I guess we should just see how things go."

……

**Ryoma's POV**

"Is Tenaya there?" I asked hesitantly. I was standing on Tenaya's front porch, and Carter had just answered the door.

"Uh, I don't think so." Carter shook his head.

"Oh ok." I nodded quietly. "Do you know where she is?"

"She went out with some guy named Fuji I think." She said she'd be back later. "Do you want me to tell her that you dropped by?"

"Uh." I said quietly. "Sure. Thanks."

"Anytime." He replied, and shut the door.

I sighed, and walked down back her driveway towards my own house. I rubbed my eyes, and brushed my bangs out of my face. They were getting really long. Never really got around to cutting them, I guess.

I thought about the dance this Saturday. I didn't even know if Tenaya was going. I was hoping to go with her, but I assumed that she was already going with Fuji. Or maybe Daisuki and Genma. They would've really liked to go with her.

Well maybe she would let me dance with her before she left. After all, she was leaving on Monday. Thank god we didn't have school, so I could go see her off.

I felt a pang of hurt at this. It hadn't fully hit me that she was leaving yet. That I would probably never see her again. What was I going to do?

Tell her? And risk humiliation?

Or spend the rest of my life asking "what if?"?

Hm. It was a toughie.

……

**Tenaya's POV**

I sat on my bed, staring down at the dress that lay on the pillow. It was Friday night, and the week had gone by way too fast. Today was my last school day in Japan. I quickly wiped away a tear that had been threatening to fall out of the corner of my eye. I really didn't want to go, but the tickets were bought, and everybody else was eager to return to America. I sighed, and got up, picking up the dress with me.

I felt the soft material and smiled. After much deliberation, I decided that I would either buy a dress or risk getting kicked out of the dance. So my mom had taken me to the mall this afternoon, and we spent a total of four hours searching. Finally, both of us tired and cranky, we came upon this dress.

It was perfect in everyway.

It was a knee length dress with two thin clear straps. It was simple but pretty. The top was snow white in color, and it faded into a dark red. The bottom red edges were layered and a sheer material, with garnet lining. After trying the dress on, my mom convinced that it was made for me.

Actually, I agreed.

I smiled and put it back carefully into my closet. I crawled into bed, and pet Hikari, who was next to me, on the head sadly.

Ryoma still hadn't asked me. Which probably meant he wasn't going to. But I still couldn't wait to see him in a suit. It was going to be so cute. Fuji had reassured me that Ryoma definitely felt the same about me. I had no idea why he was so sure. But his confidence was slightly reassuring.

So that's how I had made up my mind.

Tomorrow was the day.

Either he feels the same, or I go back feeling stupid.

Let's hope the former.

…..

A/N: So I hope you guys like the chapter. This really was just a connector chapter, the real action happens in the next chapter! You might have noticed that I've been a little slacking lately, but I really do have a lot of schoolwork with finals and all.

BUT I PROMISE! Next chapter will be the bomb. So DON'T miss it! Thanks for all reviews!


	17. Shall We Dance?

A/N: FINALLY! I'm so sorry for taking so long to write this chapter…not only have I been busy, but I've been trying to make this chapter AS GOOD as possible. I mean, it's only the most important chapter of the whole story right? Enjoy -

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Prince of Tennis and it's characters, but Tenaya is ALL mine!

Translate This

Shall We Dance?

Tenaya's POV

"Ryoma's here honey!"

"Be right there!" I yelled downstairs without so much as a quaver in my voice. But looking at myself in the mirror, those annoying little butterflies began flapping like crazy again in my stomach.

Why was I so nervous? I've seen Ryoma a million times before, and this was just a school dance, not the Oscars or anything. I shook my head clear, and smoothed out the sheer material of my new dress.

I sighed, and ran the brush one last time through my hair. Being the kind of girl who never did anything to her hair besides wash, brush and go, I didn't have all that many different hairstyles in my pocket. Fortunately, Joan was helpful, and helped me straighten my hair. After about an hour of cringing at the hot iron, my hair lay straight and flat against my bare back. As a final touch, my mom took out a sheer white and pink scarf and wrapped it around the top of my head and tied it at the back of my neck, letting the loose ends lay against the front of my shoulder. Mom then did my makeup, smoky-eyed style with a little black eyeliner, and then a tiny bit of peach pink eyeshadow. My lips were a nude color with a simple gloss over them.

I made a face at myself. I had never looked so girlish before in my life. But, I smiled, I felt good and that was all that mattered.

I smiled, and pushed my bangs out of my eyes, looking at the mirror one last time before taking a deep breath to steady myself. I grabbed my white bag and headed downstairs.

Ryoma's POV

I fiddled with my watch, and tried hard not to mess up my hair, which my dad had ran a handful of gel through so that it didn't flop around so much. I smoothed out my tux and shifted my feet, and smiled anxiously at Mrs. Rialles who just looked amused at my fidgety-ness.

If that's even a word.

I had never been this nervous in my life. It was just a dance, I told myself. Nothing's different. Me, Tenaya, school, no reason to freak out right?

_Maybe it's because you plan to tell her how you feel today?_

"Oh shut up." I muttered under my breath, shooting a smile at Carter who looked at me questioningly.

Tennis matches were like strolls in the park compared to this. Who knew school dances were so emotionally draining? I felt out of breath before I had even done anything.

But everything I was feeling at that moment disappeared into thin air as Tenaya walked down the stairs to meet me. I saw her look around and when she spotted me, she broke into a gorgeous smile that made my knees go weak. My heart almost leaped up out of my ribcage with happiness to see her smile at me like that. It made me elated when I knew that I could make her smile.

She walked over to me slowly, high-calf length dress swishing elegantly around her tennis-toned legs. I laughed to myself at seeing her shoes. She was wearing her black and white checkered slip-on Vans. I guess Tenaya would put up with a dress and makeup, but no way was she wearing high heels. For some reason, seeing her shoes helped me loosen up a little, because I knew that this was the same old Tenaya.

And plus, if she had high heels on, she'd be taller than me. But with the Vans, we were perfect height.

"Hi." She smiled up at me, gray eyes twinkling with excitement. "You look so…dressed up." She laughed. "But that's expected I guess. You look nice."

I smiled back, and offered her my arm. "Thank you. And you look gorgeous."

She smiled in thanks, and we headed towards the front door. We waved goodbye to Joan and Carter, and walked with her mom down to their car.

**&&&**

Narrator's POV 

When Tenaya and Ryoma arrived at school, they noticed that almost everybody else was already there. Ryoma greeted his friends, and Tenaya excitedly gave each one a hug. When they had said hi to Fuji, he smiled at them and asked if he could talk to Tenaya alone for a little while.

"Ok." Tenaya turned to Ryoma. "I'll be right back okay?"

Ryoma nodded but she was already being led away by Fuji. He sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"So…" Fuji started, stopping at the corner of the room and turning to face Tenaya. "Have you made a choice yet?"

"Ugh," Tenaya groaned but smiled up at him. "You're so nosy!" She laughed, and shook her head. Suddenly she looked sad. "I've thought about it and…well. I'm not going to tell him."

"What! But you sai-"

"I know! I said I wanted to tell him but…I think it'd be easier if I didn't. Plus…I've decided that I only like him as a friend after all." She smiled and gave him another small hug while his mouth hung open, but she cut him off when he started to protest. "I'll talk to you later okay? The dance is starting."

She turned and started back towards Ryoma, who's face Fuji watched light up at the sight of her. He sighed. He's so in love with her, and all Fuji could do was watch while his heart was being broken. 

But wait.

It wasn't his business to meddle with Ryoma and Tenaya's problem, but what if…

**&&&**

"Hey Ryoma." Ryoma looked over and saw Fuji to the left of him. "Can I talk to you for a while?" Ryoma frowned, but nodded. "Yeah. Sure. I'll be right back, Tenaya." She nodded and kept dancing.

Ryoma turned and followed Fuji while he led him outside to the gates near the tennis courts.

"Something you wanted to tell me?" Ryoma smiled lightly.

"Um…" Fuji ran a hand through his toffee colored hair. "How am I supposed to say this…" He muttered under his breath, although not loud enough for Ryoma to hear.

"How…How do you feel about Tenaya?" He said, looking up to meet Ryoma's gaze with his royal blue eyes.

Ryoma blushed slightly and put a hand on the chain link fence. "Well, she's my friend."

Fuji smiled. "No. Tell me how you _really _feel about her. We both know she's more than a friend to you."

Ryoma looked up at him, almost suspiciously. "How did you know?"

Fuji shrugged. "It's obvious. The way your eyes become emotionless as soon as she leaves your side, the way they always were before you met her. The way you smile a hundred times more when you're with her." He laughed. "I notice these things Ryoma! I see all the signs, but I need to hear you confirm it."

Ryoma smiled, and smiled sheepishly. "Ok, I'll say it." He looked up at Fuji, and smiled a smile that held a million more emotions than his next simple sentence could ever hold.

"I love Tenaya."

Fuji looked at Ryoma. The sun was setting in the sky behind him, reaching it's red fingers across the horizon. Fuji smiled sadly, for this was the most earnest, most emotional thing his friend had ever said. And Fuji felt the pain at what he was going to say next.

"Well Tenaya…she doesn't love you back."

Ryoma face fell slightly. "What?" He asked in a small voice.

Fuji sighed, gritting his teeth. "I've been talking to Tenaya. She-She doesn't feel the same."

"Oh." Ryoma's brows furrowed as he leaned back against the tennis fence. "Oh." He repeated quietly.

Fuji looked down at his feet, and his skin prickled with shame for being the bearer of bad news. "I-I just wanted you…to know."

"Um well. Thanks for telling me. I appreciate it, but it's ok, because…I wasn't…" He shook his head. "I wasn't going to tell her anyway." He forced a smile onto his face, despite the fact that even he knew Fuji would see through it, and headed back into the dance.

**&&&**

"Woah woah." Tenaya stepped aside from the crowd to grab Ryoma's arm as he strode past. "What's wrong?" She glanced hesitatingly towards the tennis courts, the direction in which Ryoma had come from, but nobody was there. She turned to face him. "What happened?"

"Oh. Nothing! Nothing really, I just….um…need to use the bathroom. I'll be back later." He tugged his arm out of her grasp, a little harshly, and turned towards the back of the room.

Tenaya glanced after him, and frowned. But she shook her head clear and looked up at the school clock. 9:15. Only 45 minutes left of the dance left.

**&&&**

Fuji sighed as he leaned back against the wall. He had just seen the little conversation between Ryoma and Tenaya and almost regretted what he had done. But he started this little matchmaker business a while ago, and he was going to end it. He had one more consultation left.

"Tenaya?"

She turned around to face him. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, but I was wondering if I could talk to you…again."

"Um…" She looked confused for a second but walked over to where he stood a few yards away. "Sure. Shoot. Unless…" She sighed. "Not Ryoma again, is it?"

He nodded and his blue eyes took on a serious tone. "Look. I think we both know that you're lying. You know Ryoma means a lot more to you than you let yourself think. The question is, why won't you just tell him?"

"I can't!" Tenaya put a hand to her forehead and shook her head. "I just can't Fuji! He doesn't have to know really! I can just pretend like…like he's a friend and we can go on with our lives." She put on a smile. "Doesn't that sound like a good plan to you? It does to me, so I'm not saying a word." She crossed her arms, as if that finished the matter.

She sighed when he gave her his "I-think-we-need-to-discuss-this-choice-of-yours" face. "Look. I'm leaving in _two days. _After that, my life in Japan is over. It's done. I doubt I'll ever see any of you again. It might sound harsh, but the truth is I don't _want_ to see any of you guys again." She winced at the look of sadness in Fuji's eyes, but continued. "This has been one of the best chapters of my life, but I have to move on. I don't belong in Japan….I just don't. No matter how much I feel at home here, the truth is that I can't stay. Maybe…" She sighed, and took a deep breath. "Maybe if I can tell myself that you guys don't mean a lot to me, then leaving won't be so hard."

To her horror, tears started prickling at the back of her eyes, and her throat tightened. She quickly wiped them out of her eyes and lowered her head so that Fuji wouldn't see her crying. "I know it sounds stupid…I'll never be able to hide the fact that you guys are the most caring and lovable people I've ever met. But, I'm a good liar…I really am. I get away from homework assignments all the time." She laughed shakily. "Maybe I can deceive myself…"

Fuji's heart hurt as he watched a tear fall from her shadowed face to the ground. He lifted her chin up with his hand and look into her tear-filled grey eyes. "I-" He sighed. "I don't know why you're doing this…but I respect your decision." He smiled sadly. "You know what you're feeling, I hope."

She nodded fervently, sniffling, and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "I do. I've thought this through." She smiled. "Thanks." She said softly, and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "You mean a lot to me Fuji, thanks for being there."

He smiled into her hair and wrapped his arms around her. "Thanks for _letting_ me be here to help you out." After a few moments, they pulled apart and after whispering a final thanks, she headed back to the dance floor. "If I can't be anything else," he whispered. "Then being your friend is enough…"

**&&&**

Ryoma's POV 

I felt a lot better after splashing some water on my face and clearing my mind. I decided that, why waste our time together with a depressed mood? Might as well make the best of it.

So I pushed the pain of rejection into the back of my mind and started looking for Tenaya. There was time for one last slow dance, and I wanted to dance with her. But when I spotted her, the smile slipped from my face as I saw her in Fuji's arms. They were holding each other in a tight embrace and when they pulled apart, she had a smile on her face. She whispered something in his ear and turned to walk away.

My mind went numb, and automatically I headed for the door. I walked into the hallway before stopping to think. I took a deep, shaky breath, and cursed at my own blindness. Of course, how could I have ignored it? She was in love with Fuji. And despite the fact that she had never felt anything for me, and that he was a great person, I couldn't help but feel anger. I shook my head and started for the door again, but before I could reach it, a soft voice called out my name.

**&&&**

Narrator's POV 

"Ryoma?" Tenaya stepped cautiously out into the hallway, and shut the door behind her, blocking out the loud music and shouting voices, although muffled beats could still be heard. "Where are you going?"

Ryoma turned around but kept his gaze away from her face. "I'm not feeling so good. So I'm heading home first…have fun okay?"

"Ryoma, I'm not falling for it. Please, tell me what's wrong?" She started walking towards him, but he just ignored her, ignored the worry shining in her eyes. It would be stupid for him to stay, after all, she had just proved that her heart had indeed belonged to Fuji.

"I'm fine, I'll see you tomorrow okay?" He reached out a hand to push open the door, but before he could, he felt her grab his hand. He froze.

She gently pulled on his hand so that he stood facing him, but once again, he kept his look on anything but her eyes. Instead, he watched the spot where his hand met both of her hands.

She held his hand loosely, running her thumbs over his knuckles. "I wish…" she took a deep breath. "I had hoped that we were close enough so that you could tell me when you're upset."

"I'm not upset!" He exclaimed.

"Yes you are! I can tell Ryoma, and plus…you can't lie for shit."

He stood there with his mouth open. "Of course I can lie!"

"Ah hah, so you admit you're lying!"

"Yes! NO! Of course not! There's nothing wrong, I swear!"

She groaned. "You're upset, why don't you just TELL ME!"

"I can't tell you!"

"Why!"

"Because!"

"Because WHAT!"

"Because…Because there's nothing to tell!" He smiled triumphantly at catching his slip.

"Oh lordy." She muttered, and crossed her arms. "I don't know what's wrong with you lately! You've been so…antisocial these past few days. What's going on? And why can't you tell me!"

"It's nothing you have to worry about really! It's just…my own problems. You wouldn't be interested."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Try me."

He opened his mouth, and closed it. "I just—don't worry about it."

She rolled her eyes, and grabbed his hand again, this time dragging him back into the dance. "There's one last dance." She said, leading him onto the dance floor just as _First Love_ by Hikaru Utada floated out of the speakers. All around them, couples began slow dancing, and Tenaya did the same, wrapping her arms around his neck. "And I was saving it for you." She said softly.

His eyes widened, and he hesitatingly put his arms around her waist, pulling her close. He felt confused. Wouldn't Tenaya want to dance with Fuji for the last dance? Ryoma glanced over at the boy in question, and saw him smiling back at him, dancing with a cute 7th grade girl who was looking up at him in adoration. Ryoma smiled back, and turned around, and Tenaya gently lay her head on his shoulder.

Saigo no KISS wa  
TOBACCO no FLAVOR ga shita   
Nigakute setsunai kaori

Ashita no imagoro niwa  
Anata wa doki ni irun darou?  
Dare wo omotterun darou?

YOU ARE ALWAYS GONNA BE MY LOVE  
Itsuka dareka to mata koi ni ochitemo   
I'll remember to love  
You taught me how  
You are always gonna be the one  
Ima wa mada kanashii love song  
Atarashii uta utaeru made

Tachidomaru jikan ga  
Ugokidasou to shiteru   
Wasuretakunai koto bakari

Ashita no imagoro niwa  
Watashi wa kitto naiteru  
Anata wo omotterun darou

You will always be inside my heart  
Itsumo anata dake no basho ga aru kara  
I hope that I have a place in your heart too  
Now and forever you are still the one  
Ima wa mada kanashii love song  
Atarashii uta utaeru made

You are always gonna be my love  
Itsuka dareka to mata koi ni ochitemo  
I'll remember to love  
You taught me how  
You are always gonna be the one  
Mada kanashii LOVE

NOW AND FOREVER…I LOVE YOU

**English version:**

Our last kiss was flavored 

_with cigarette smoke_

_a bitter and painful scent_

_And I wonder where you'll be_

_Tomorrow, about now_

_And who you'll be thinking of._

_You are always gonna be my love_

_And I'll keep singing_

_This same sad love song for you._

_Until the day I find a new voice._

_I'll remember to love_

_You taught me how_

_You are always gonna be the one_

_As that time that once stopped for me_

_Begins to move again_

_So many things flood my mind_

_Which I wish I could forget_

_As I wonder what you'll be doing_

_Tomorrow, about now_

_Though I'll be crying for sure_

_And thinking of you._

_You will always be inside my heart_

_There will always be a place for you_

_I hope that I have a place in your heart too_

_Now and forever you are still the one_

_And I'll keep singing _

_This same sad love song for you_

_Until the day I find a new voice_

_You are always gonna be my love_

_And if one day I fall in love again_

_I'll remember to love_

_You taught me how_

_You are always gonna be the one_

_All I have is this one sad love song_

_Now and forever…I love you_

And so, that was how the night ended. Two lovers in each other's arms. The perfect fairytale ending to a not-so-perfect fairytale story. Except for one thing.

They still hadn't told the other person about their feelings.

But for the moment, they didn't care for such petty things, like words. All they knew was that, right there in that moment, both of their lives were perfect. Everything else in the world could wait, while they reveled in the feeling of being in each other's arms.

And this is how our story ends.

….

Yeah right.

If I ended the story like this, you'd probably all barbeque me and feed me to a bunch of vampire finches. (They do exist, I just learned about them in Bio.)

So if you're still alive and breathing out there, you can wait for chapter 17 to come out. Will they finally tell each other? I dunno, but I guarantee you, there's no way I'm going to give this story a crapping ending, you can count on that.

And by the way, _First Love _By Utada Hikaru is one of my ALL TIME favorite songs, and I've loved it for a long long time, way before I even got the idea for "Translate This". It's a pretty popular song, but if you've never heard it, I suggest you either google it, or email me asking for it, and I'll send it to you.

Email me at read the lyrics too.

They actually kinda pertain to the storyline.

A/N: So I lied. Maybe this isn't the most important and waited for chapter in the story but so what? I thought it was going to be too. But I changed it at the last minute, sorry guys!

Hopefully, the next chapter won't take so long to write.

Thanks to all reviewers and I hope you guys enjoyed this one!


	18. But Words Will Never Hurt Me

A/N: Including this chapter, there will only be 3 more chapters. As _White Alchemist Taya_ requested, I **will **be including an epilogue. Now…time for some whining on the author's part.

Looking back at this entire story, I've realized just how much it kinda…well… Sucks. I think the problem is that I've changed as a person, changed my values, my views of how life and everything in it functions. I am a different person now than the person I was when I sat down to write Chapter 1.

I believe that writing is one of the best ways to express a person's emotions, their feelings and beliefs all leak out once pen touches paper. (Or in my case, fingers touch keyboard) Therefore, this story has changed with me. But the problem is, it's not supposed to. Consistency has always been what I've strived for in a fanfiction, and this is anything but. I know that it's too late to go back and rewrite, so I've decided to just finish what I've started.

Don't get me wrong; I am elated with all the reviews I've gotten (over 60 reviews! You guys really rock), and I'm so happy that people actually take the time to _read _ "Translate This". It's just that, I'm not satisfied with myself, and I think this story could have been much better if I had done things differently. I doubt anybody's reading all this, but I just had to put it here in case some of you are.

But enough self-pity blabbering, on with the story!

**&&&**

Translate This

But Words Will Never Hurt Me

Narrator's POV 

Tenaya leaned back in the swivel chair in front of her desk and sighed, staring out the window at the cloudy sky. She pet Hikari, who was laying under her desk asleep, with her foot and twiddled her pen. She had been trying to write a new song, but she couldn't focus for the life of her.

And we all know what she was thinking about instead right?

She closed her eyes, and couldn't help but smile as she remembered the dance last night. It had gone really well, actually, nothing she wasn't supposed to say slipped, no tears, no yelling, one small squabble, but that was normal.

But what she was really pondering over was what Fuji had said. Did she really know what she was doing? She knew for a fact that she wanted her departure to be as quick and painless as possible, but she didn't know if she was going about the right way of doing it. Was Ryoma worth throwing away just for that?

"Gosh, I'm such a bitch." She whispered to herself. She really was being selfish. Just because of what she wanted, she was trying to ignore all of the signs that were practically slapping her in the face.

She knew Ryoma had feelings for her. She wasn't sure exactly what they were, but she knew they were there. Did she feel the same?

Actually, she preferred not to think about that. If she could get through today without any slipups, from her and him, then she would be fine. After all, her flight was tomorrow morning.

The doorbell rang, snapping her out of her thoughts. Hikari snorted, went back to sleep, and Tenaya got up to answer the door.

Ryoma's POV 

I looked down at the worn out welcome mat on the front porch as I waited for somebody to open the door. As soon as I heard the doorknob turn, I looked up to see Tenaya, dressed in dark grey sweats, a navy element t-shirt, and her hair up in a ponytail. I forced a smile on my face. "Hey."

She smiled. "Hi Ryoma."

I shifted nervously. "I just wanted to hang out with you a little…you know. Since you're leaving tomorrow."

She nodded. "Yeah of course. Come in."

I nodded and stepped into the house, slipping off my shoes and then following her down the hall to her room. As soon I got in, Hikari jumped up from where she was laying and trotted over to greet me.

I smiled and pet her smooth, white head. "I can't believe I was once afraid of her." I muttered.

She laughed softly to the left of me where she had sat on the bed. "That was pretty funny."

I laughed with her and sat down. "So, did you have fun last night?"

"Yeah, it was great. Did you?"

I nodded. "Yes, it was pretty fun."

We sat in silence for a little while after that. Although it wasn't an awkward silence, I still felt a little out of place. This wasn't like Tenaya. She's never this quiet. When we're together, I'm usually the one who listens while she talks.

I guess it'll have to be the other way around this time.

"You're leaving tomorrow huh? The past two months have really gone by fast."

She sighed. "Yep. Felt like just yesterday when I sat down next to you in English class for the first time." She smiled. Her first genuine smile I had seen so far today.

I loosened up too. "You know, I really didn't know what to make of you then."

She glanced at me. "Really? I thought for sure that you found me a little weird. Most people do."

"Well, kinda." I hesitated. "But not just weird. No offense but…" I laughed. "You scared me just a little bit."

"How?" She exclaimed curiously.

"I don't know…it was kind of like, you were so different from any other girl that I was a little caught off guard, I suppose. I thought you'd be a little like Sakuno at first…"

She made a face and I laughed. "But definitely not now."

"So who do you think I'm like now?" She propped her head up on her hands and looked at me with a smile on her face. 

I looked down at her, and grinned. "Tomo."

"Hey!" She hit me lightly on the leg and we laughed. "Nah…I don't think you're like her. You're like…like nobody I've ever met."

She grinned. "If that's a good thing, then thank you."

**&&&**

Narrator's POV 

Ryoma and Tenaya spent the next few hours, just talking, singing songs, and having fun. Pretty soon, they had both forgotten that she was leaving the next day. Tenaya would play the guitar, and they would sing together, making up silly words where the original lyrics had been forgotten. They looked at pictures that Tenaya had taken over the last two months, and couldn't help but laugh at some of the funny faces Eiji came up with. They even prank called Tezuka, pretending to be the tennis director of the school and telling him that he was fired, and ended up getting yelled at when Tezuka finally found them out. But when Tenaya apologized, even Tezuka loosened up a little and laughed with them.

Ryoma smiled at that. It was so amazing how she could make everybody around her relax.

A few hours later, Tenaya and Ryoma were both laughing on the bed so hard that their stomachs were beginning to hurt. Tenaya sat up and wiped her eyes, looking at the clock. "Wow. It's been over 3 hours, it's already 5:00."

"Really?" Ryoma sat up. "Wow, you're right. Time flies when you're having fun." He grinned.

She nodded in agreement. They had had so much fun, that she had accidentally knocked over her empty water glass, chipping a piece off of the edge.

"Tenaya!" Her mom's voice came from downstairs. "Come help me with this box!"

"Okay!" She yelled back. "I'll be right back." She said to Ryoma, and padded out of the room.

Ryoma sighed and lay back down onto the bed. Yes, time really did fly when he was having fun. But then again, time only seemed to fly when he was with her. Unlike tennis, which was tiring after a while, all he needed was to be near her, and they would have a blast. He smiled. What he said earlier was true. She really was like no other girl in his life.

He covered his eyes with his hands and smiled sadly. He'd found this girl…well, more like she found him. But they had come together two months ago, and his feelings had been a roller coaster the whole time. He thought about what Fuji had said, about her feelings. So what if she didn't feel the same? He'd found the girl he loved, and he wasn't about to let her go that easily. Was he?

According to his philosophy, it was better to do something you might regret later on than to regret doing nothing. (WOW! Ryoma actually has a philosophy.)

He sat up.

He loved Tenaya.

What other reason was there?

It had never hit him so hard before as it did now.

A few times during their afternoon together, Ryoma would take his attention off whatever they were doing to focus on Tenaya. He loved how she always sang with a little smile on her face. He loved the way she clutched her stomach when she laughed hard, and the way her bangs kept falling stubbornly into her eyes. He loved the way that when he spoke, she would always keep eye contact, staring at him, almost as if directly into his soul, and he loved the way her grey eyes would shimmer when she said his name. He loved her for every thing she was, and a million reasons more. He loved her, he loved her, he loved her to the point where it almost hurt. So how could being just friends with her ever satisfy him?

"We can't remain friends anyway." He thought sadly. Not with them at opposite sides of the world.

The door opened, and in walked Tenaya, a shining smile on her face. "I'm back. Whew." She said, rubbing her arms. "That box sure was heavy. I could barely get it to the car for mom to take to the moving company." She looked at Ryoma, who had plastered a smile on his face at the last minute. She cocked an eyebrow at his fake smile, but decided not to say anything. "They said they'll be back in about half an hour. Are you done with your water? I'm taking mine to the kitchen." She said, nodding towards his half empty glass of water.

He nodded, handing the glass to her. He watched as she took it with hers, and headed back towards the door. He watched her retreating back and it felt as if she really was walking out of his life. It might sound stupid since he knew that she was just going to the kitchen, and would be back in a matter of minutes, but for some reason, he just couldn't sit and watch as she walked away.

"I love you."

She froze, an inch from the doorway. She turned around with a startled look on her face. "What?" She asked shakily.

"I--." He sat up straighter and took a deep breath. "I love you. I love you, Tenaya, and I don't want you to go."

She shook her head, willing time to turn itself so that she didn't have to hear those painful words.

His heart clenched, but he continued. "When I met you, I thought that you'd be a bother to drag around. And then a little later, I thought maybe we'd become good friends. And as time wore on, I found myself wishing for something more than a platonic relationship with you. I—"

"Stop." She whispered in a low, almost dangerous sounding voice. She clenched her eyes so hard that it numbed her brain. She wasn't supposed to be hearing him say this.

"Tenaya?" Ryoma whispered her name, his voice full of concern. "I'm sorry…but I just had to tell you befo—"

"NO. Stop!" She shook her head as if it would help make his voice go away.

"Tenaya…" Ryoma stood up from the bed and came over to Tenaya. He gently put a hand on her trembling shoulder but she rudely shook him off. "Listen, I'm sorry but…" He never got to finish his sentence, because as soon as he put his hands back onto her shoulder, she whipped her arm around, striking Ryoma on the side of his face with the jagged edge of her glass. Fortunately, Ryoma's reflexes were pretty fast, and he avoided the full of the blow, getting a deep cut, but not as deep as it would have been if he hadn't moved away.

It still hurt though.

He winced, and put a hand up to his bleeding cheek. The blood was already running down his face in a slow and steady trickle. He backed away from her slowly.

She whipped around, tears streaming down her face. "What did I do?" She whispered. She looked down at the glass, still in her hand. A drop of blood hung from the jagged edge. Ryoma's blood.

He shook his head. "No, it's okay it doesn't hurt."

She looked up at him, and her eyes filled with tears again. "Did you say that…you loved me?" She said, in a trembling voice.

He hesitated, but nodded slowly.

She gasped and lowered her head. She slid to her knees onto the floor. "No! No no no…" She shook her head. "No you don't love me. You can't love me! Ryoma." She looked up, her eyes blurry. "Listen to me, what you're feeling, it's not love! It's not!"

He quickly wiped the blood off his face. "What are you talking about?" He had never loved anything or anyone so much in his life.

"You don't know what you're talking about! It's not love, you have no idea what you're saying or thinking."

"Of course it's love! What else can it be?" He stood, blood covered hand trembling. "All my life, I've been confused and unsure about everything, but once I met you, it's all cleared up! Nothing has been clearer to me than this! If what I'm feeling isn't love, then what is it!"

"NO!" She screamed and raised her arms, throwing the glasses down onto the floor in front of her with all her might. They shattered into a hundred pieces, and water splashed onto her pants. "No…" she sobbed, and fell into a heap onto the floor, right on top of the bits of glass. Ryoma hurried over to her, afraid that she would hurt herself, but as soon as he touched her, she lashed out, smacking his hand away.

He glanced down at his arm, and saw blood, and then looked down at her crying form. Her arms were already covered in bleeding scratches. His own eyes teared up at the sight of her in pain.

"Go away!" She cried hoarsely, looking up at him with a tear-streaked face and eyes that shown of heartbreak. She didn't care that she was a bloody mess. She took one look at his despairing eyes and the emotions welled up. She didn't want this. All she wanted was for them to part on good terms. If he loved her…how the hell was she supposed to leave?

"Just go away…" Her yells had quieted down into quiet sobs, but were just as hurtful, if not even more. She was angry. She was angry at herself for hurting him, both physically and emotionally. She was angry at herself for being so selfish, for rejecting his feelings for her own sake. She was angry at the fact that no matter what she had done…she hadn't been able to keep her feelings locked away. "Go away…"

Ryoma's heart ached with betrayal and confusion, but he decided to do as she asked.

So he left. He walked over the broken glass, the blood and water, past the sobbing girl. The girl who wanted nothing to do with him. He walked down the hall and past the kitchen, eyes emotionless, and slipped his blood-covered feet into his shoes and opened the front door. But as soon as he got outside, he ran. He ran down the street, blindly tripping and stumbling until his vision blurred and his tears mixed in with his blood. He ran until he couldn't run anymore, and collapsed into a heap on the grass at the small park, in front of the swing set that stood broken before him. And after that, he cried like he never had before

**&&&**

It was Sunday morning, and Tenaya's flight was in about two hours. The whole Seigaku gang had showed up at her house before the departure, and they all exchanged tearful goodbyes. Tenaya had given everyone of them a hug, even Kaidoh, and thanked them all for being such wonderful friends. She saw Fuji's royal blue eyes mist as she turned to embrace him. "I'll never forget you Fuji…" She said sadly. He nodded. "I love you Tenaya, never forget that I'm here if you need it." Her grateful smile was all the thanks he needed. And he could smile back, for he knew that he meant it just as he had said it.

He loved her as a friend. He really did, and that was all he was asking for.

The Echizens were kind enough to drive them to the airport, so Mrs. Rialles, Joan, and Carter piled into Mrs. Echizen's car, and Ryoma and Tenaya got into Nanjiroh's car. But before she did, she turned to look at them once more. Tezuka, Oishi, Takashi, Momo, Kaidoh, Inui, Kikumaru, and Fuji. She smiled sadly, and shut the door. They waved at her as the car began picking up speed, and she waved back, eyes tearing up.

So much for quick and painless.

Tenaya's POV 

I looked down at my bandaged arms and hands as the car sped along the highway towards the airport. I glanced to the right of me where Ryoma sat still, face devoid of any emotion. I winced. I hadn't seen him this serious in a long time.

I hadn't said a word to Ryoma since yesterday afternoon. Nor he to I. But the silence was just too loud to handle anymore, so I tried to break the silence.

"I'm sorry…" I whispered quietly. Ryoma turned to face me. "What?" He said.

I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry." I repeated. "For that." I gestured towards the bandage on his cheek.

"Oh." He reached up a hand to touch the bandage. "It's ok."

Silence.

Well that worked well.

I sighed softly, and twiddled my thumbs. I had really screwed up this time. I tore a gash in his face with a broken cup, and yelled in his face that he had no idea what he was talking about. I might as well have just screamed "I HATE YOU!" in his face.

Go me.

Who knew being selfish hurt so much? Forget my own pain, it could barely touch on what Ryoma must be feeling right now.

We arrived at the airport, and Ryoma carried my suitcase for me the whole way. I waited with him in the gateway chair for a few minutes before the rest of my family had come in with their luggage.

Then we all stood up and exchanged goodbyes. I embraced Mrs. Echizen and thanked her for everything, even gave Nanjiroh a hug for being kind to me. Joan and Mom gave all three Echizens hugs, and Carter shook everybody's hand. And as soon as all the farewells were done being exchanged, Mom, Joan, and Carter took their bags and headed for the terminal gate.

I turned around to face Ryoma. Instead of the detached look on his face just minutes ago, his eyes shone with an emotion that I, for once, failed to recognize. I felt my throat tighten but I pushed the feeling away. Thankfully, I didn't cry. Although I'm pretty sure that I had run out of tears anyway.

Ryoma's POV 

Words could not describe the feeling I was overcome with when I saw Tenaya pick up her bags and turn towards the gate. This was it? This was how it was going to end?

"Wait." I said hesitatingly, trying to buy some time.

She turned around, and looked at me expectantly.

"I—" I sighed. "So this is goodbye…then?"

She nodded, keeping her gaze diverted. She never did that. "Goodbye." She said breezily, and I felt my heart clench painfully at her empty tone of voice.

"Um…call me sometime?" I asked.

"I will."

But her eyes told a different story.

**&&&**

I stood beside my dad in front of the large airport window, watching as Tenaya's plane began picking up speed. My mom had gone to the bathroom, leaving the two of us alone. I kept my gaze focused on the plane as it lifted off the ground and rose into the air. She really was gone.

As she should be. She was born in, and grew up in America. Japan meant nothing to her.

I meant nothing to her.

Before I could think about it more, my dad's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

He put a hand on my shoulder and looked down at me. "You can't always get everything you want, son. No matter how much you love it."

I shook my head. "I know. I'll be fine." But my voice cracked and my dad sighed, wrapping an arm around me and giving me a squeeze before turning to exit the terminal lounge.

"I'll be fine."

But as always, words meant nothing.

**&&&**

A/N: Yay for long chapters! This one was a little dramatic and dark, I know, but it's a little too late now to change it. Plus, I'm actually kinda satisfied with this chapter.

I managed to write this in one day. Go me! Although it's currently 3:00 AM and I'm as tired as hell. I think I'll upload it sometime tomorrow. Now, time for some more coffee.

I don't know if you guys noticed, but Daisuki and Genma just disappeared off the face of the earth…Yeah, I got tired with them. Oh well, I doubt anybody liked them anyway.

Whew. Just two chapters left!

Thanks to all reviewers, and I hope you enjoyed!


	19. Forget Regret

A/N: Second to last chapter. Sorry it's a little delayed. I wrote it carefully, but I just can't squeeze any more pizzazz out of it, so this will have to do. Hope you guys like it! It is after all, the last official chapter.

Translate This

Forget Regret

Tenaya's POV 

I looked down at my stainless steel tray as the lunch lady plopped a spoonful of what looked like refried beans next to my celery sticks. I thanked her quietly and moved up in line. I reached for a carton of French fries and some grapes before paying for the meal.

Turning away from the cash register, I scanned the cafeteria for the table where my friend Nikki and I always ate lunch. Spotting it in the back, I carefully started making my way through the crowd of high school kids. After stepping over a senior guy who was laying on the floor, probably passed out from taking on a dare to eat 50 meatballs in 1 minute or something gross like that, and dodging some flying peas, I arrived at our lunch table, for the most part unscathed.

"Hey Tenaya." Nikki looked up from her sandwich and motioned for me to sit down next to her. Nikki, a girl I had met a few years ago in English class, was the closest thing to a best friend I had ever had. She had a small frame, barely 5 feet, but she had long, silky chestnut hair, stunning sea-green eyes, and a knack for fashion. Wherever we went, guys would be swooning, but she always denied it and insisted that it was I who drew all the (unwanted) attention. "How're you feelin today?" She said, taking a bite of her PB&J sandwich.

I shrugged. "Fine."

Nikki rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that. You've answered 'fine' for two weeks in a row now."

"Then maybe you should stop asking me." I said, examining a celery stick carefully before placing it back onto my tray.

Nikki, never one to take offense easily, waved my sarcastic remark away. "C'mon. There's something wrong."

I glanced at her. "Really? I didn't know."

She stuffed the last of her sandwich into her mouth, and flicked the plastic bag she brought it in onto the floor nonchalantly. "Will you please tell me?"

I made a face. "I really wish you wouldn't do that."

She looked at me innocently. "Do what?"

I rolled my eyes, standing up to pick up her plastic bag. "Throw your trash all over the place." I placed it in the nearest garbage can. "Our school's enough of a dump."

"Whatever." She shrugged. "Now where was I before you interrupted? Oh yeah. You, and your little problem."

"I don't have one."

"Tenaya, you are either the dumbest creature on this planet, or you're pretending to be."

I poked at my soggy grapes with my spork. "The former."

"Ha, yeah right, then explain why you're passing honors biology with flying colors."

"Okay, well the key to bio is that you have to--"

"Nevermind, I take it back." Nikki interrupted. "Now before I forget again, you really need to do something about this. You've been so quiet ever since you came back from Japan. People don't just shut up all of a sudden for no reason." Her voice softened a little and she turned to face me, meeting my gaze with her green eyes. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it. But I want to help. Really, you're my friend, it sucks seeing you like this."

I smiled at her sincerity, and sighed. "I know Nikki. But I honestly didn't think you'd be interested in helping me out."

"Are you kidding girl?" Nikki smirked. "It's my _job._ Now spill the beans."

I glanced down at my refried beans queasily.

"Not literally."

I laughed, despite myself, and pushed my tray away from me, turning to fully face her. "Okay, but I don't know where to start."

She shrugged. "Well, it's a guy problem right?"

"How did you know?"

She rolled her eyes. "Duh. What else could it be? Don't you remember how I was when Jordan broke up with me last year?"

"Yeah." I blinked at her. "You cussed him out."

"Well, yeah." She shifted in her seat. "But after that."

"Uh, you guys got back together?"

She sighed. "Before that. Remember? I was just like you now. I wouldn't open my mouth to speak if you pried at my lips with a crowbar." She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Anyway, so now that we've established that it does have to do with a guy, you fill me in. First, describe him."

I sighed, closing my eyes. At once, a picture of Ryoma popped into my head, and I smiled despite myself. Eyes still closed, I began talking. "Let's see, he's kind of medium height, just a little taller than me. Jet black hair, kind of in a long, shaggy, layered cut. Athletic like you wouldn't believe, this guy is way in love with tennis. He's smart, although a little lazy. He's really quiet when you first meet him, but gradually, he opens up to people. Kind of a loner by choice, doesn't have toomany close friends…. A little arrogant when it comes to tennis…but he's so good he deserves to be." I smiled and opened my eyes. "And oh yeah. He has these big eyes, so dark green they look almost black."

Nikki nodded, looking impressed. "Sounds like a keeper. So what's the problem? Did he reject you?"

"No." I looked down at my hands. "I rejected him, and told him that I didn't want to see him."

"Oooh." She said. "But then, why are you stressing about him now?"

"Because…" I took a deep breath. "Because I lied."

"You what?" She looked at me.

"I lied. I broke his heart, and doing so broke mine." I placed my arms on the table, resting my chin on them. "And now he probably hates me. But I don't hate him." I closed my eyes again. "And there's no way to tell him."

"Uh…telephone, hello?"

I sighed. "It's not that simple. Even if I did call him, and even if he did accept my apology, what would follow after? We're live on opposite sides of the world, in case you haven't noticed."

Nikki wrinkled her nose. "Oh yeah. Well, maybe you should talk to your mom about it." The lunch bell rang, and she got up, grabbing her backpack. "I'm sure you'll figure out a way."

I shrugged, standing up with my tray.

"See you after school!" She called, heading towards 5th period.

Tenaya nodded, waving. "Maybe…" She said to herself, standing up slowly and grabbing her backpack. "It's too late." She whispered. "Maybe I should just move on."

**&&&**

Narrator's POV 

Tenaya stared at the math problems swimming around on the whiteboard, and blinked. How to derive the sigma notation sequence by exchanging the common base of the logarithm---what? She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, but the math problems were still there when she opened them again. She sighed. "Hey Ryoma, what's number one?" Tenaya whispered to the right of her.

"Um, my name is Yuuto…but the answer is 34 and 3/8."

Tenaya looked up, surprised, at Yuuto's smiling face. "Oh. Right." She grinned sheepishly. "Thanks." He nodded, and she turned back around, burying her face in her arms. This was getting really embarrassing. How many times had she forgotten that Ryoma wasn't here again? Lost count a week ago.

To her horror, tears sprung to her eyes, and she could feel her throat tightening. Tenaya quickly wiped them away, but unfortunately, the teacher noticed. Although, he seemed to be in a good mood today, for instead of pointing her tears out to everybody, he leaned over her with a worried expression. "Are you okay Tenaya?"

Tenaya nodded, wiping my eyes fervently.

"You don't look okay." He stood up again. "Maybe you should go home…here, I'll write you a pass."

She looked at his retreating back in surprise. Maybe the whole world wasn't against her after all.

**&&&**

"I'm home Mom." Tenaya called out drearily into the house as she slipped off her shoes.

"Already?" She came into the hallway, brows furrowed. "What's wrong honey?"

She shook my head, and started down the hall to her room. "Nothing, just a little tired."

Her mom looked at her, head swimming as Tenaya went into her room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

"Is she okay?" Carter appeared behind her, also looking worried.

Mrs. Rialles sighed. "I wish I could tell you. She's been so quiet since our Japan trip…Any ideas why?"

Carter rolled his eyes. "One."

"Well, you need to fill me in then, because I can't stand seeing her like this." Mrs. Rialles said, heading back towards the kitchen, Carter following.

"Oh mom, as if it's not obvious. Think about it." He grabbed and apple before going back to his own room. "You'll know what's making her blue. And hopefully, you'll fix it."

**&&&**

Ryoma's pencil scratched noisily as he scribbled down his math homework. After finishing the last problem, he leaned back to take a look at it. Deriving the sigma notation sequence by exchanging the common base of the logarithm. Easy.

"RYOMA! TIME TO EAT!" Nanjiro bellowed up the stairs.

Ryoma winced from where he was sitting at his desk, and stood up with a sigh. "No need to yell dad, our house isn't that big." He muttered, shaking his head tiredly. After trudging down the stairs and sitting down at the dinner table, he picked up his chopsticks respectfully and thanked his mother for the meal. Mrs. Echizen nodded and smiled.

"So, how are you Ryoma?" Mrs. Echizen asked politely.

"Good, you?" He replied.

"I'm great. Except…you keep answering 'good' when I ask you how you are, but you've been so quiet lately..."

"I have?" Ryoma asked, trying to look surprised.

"I'm worried about you. What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "I don't really want to talk about it."

Mrs. Echizen frowned. "Okay, well I only asked 'what's wrong?' to be polite, because I already know what it is."

Ryoma rolled his eyes.

"Ryoma, I know you probably miss Tenaya…" She started, hesitating when she saw his grip tighten on his chopsticks. "But I've learned to put the past behind me." Her eyes softened. "Just forget the whole thing. Look forward, before you miss out on anything else."

"I know." Ryoma said abruptly, standing up. "Thanks for the meal…But I'm really not that hungry." He said, leaving the table and going back upstairs.

He collapsed onto his bed, rubbing his eyes wearily. It had been two weeks since she left, and he couldn't get her out of his mind. To tell the truth, Ryoma wouldn't trade his memory of Tenaya for anything, even though it brought pain sometimes.

He brushed his hair out of his eyes, petting Karupin. As he listened to her steady purring, he felt his eyes close and a wave of tiredness washed over him. Maybe sleep would help this…it was said that time healed everything right? Time, it was all he needed, now that she was gone.

**&&&**

Tenaya sat cross-legged on her bed, picking at a stitch in her bedspread. Looking back on the whole thing, it had seemed like a huge mistake. It hurt saying it, but it was true. "This whole thing was one, giant, mistake." She whispered. Who knew she could fall into something so utterly complicated? It was a lose-lose situation, it seemed. Either fall in love and risk pain at the departure, or deny love and regret it for the rest of her life.

But somehow, she had managed to get the worst of both. She _had _fallen for Ryoma. No doubt about that. And leaving him was painful. But she had also denied her own feelings, as well as his, and chose the selfish way out.

She lay down and curled into a little ball. "I hate myself." She whispered shakily against her knees. Hadn't it been enough to suffer herself? Why had she gone and made him suffer with her? "It's all my fault."

But as she lay there she remembered something her father used to say to her when she regretted something she had done.

_Everybody has imperfections in their life. Some people fret and waste energy over it until the problem is fixed. Others know it can't be fixed, and just feel miserable. But knowing that you've done something wrong, the first step to reviving is realization. Yeah, mistakes happen, but wishing they didn't doesn't solve anything._

_Learn to work around them. Eventually, you'll get used to the hole in your life. Learn to respect your mistakes, remember them, but to move on at the same time. _

It was one of her most vivid memories of him. "Dad, I miss you…" She sniffled, feeling like a little baby but not caring.

"Ryoma, I miss you…"

There was a knock on her door, and Tenaya looked up. "Come in." She said slowly. Mrs. Rialles's head peeked into the room.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" She asked, making her way over to sit down on the bed.

"Crappy." Tenaya muttered.

Her mom smiled sympathetically. "I know. But listen, I know you've been down lately, so I've come up with a way to help you..."

**&&&**

The next day, sitting as his desk, Ryoma was finishing up some English homework. He jumped as his phone rang, and he walked over to pick it up.

"Ryoma?" Momo's voice came from the receiver.

"Momo-sempai?"

"Hai. I was wondering if you were busy, wanna meet me at the fast food restaurant for lunch?"

"Umm…" Ryoma looked at his watch, surprised to see that it was indeed lunchtime. "I'm doing some homework."

"Ryoma, it's Saturday, live a little."

Ryoma sighed. In truth, he almost never did his homework on Saturday, but what else was there to do? He didn't really want to go out right now, but he decided some fresh air would probably be good for him. "Okay, Momo-sempai, be right there." He replied, hanging up.

He ran downstairs, waving at his mother and slipping on his shoes before going out the front door. He jogged the two blocks to the fast food restaurant, and entered, spotting the table where Momo-sempai had sat down at.

"Echizen! How've ya been?" Momo said, looking up from his hamburger.

"Fine." Ryoma said, sliding down into the seat across from Momo.

"Mm-hm." Momo rolled his eyes. "And I'm Kaido's best friend. I've seen you at tennis practice. It's like you got the life sucked outta ya."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Momo sighed. "C'mon now. We all know you miss Tenaya."

Ryoma winced. Why did everybody in the world want to talk about the one thing that he wanted to avoid a conversation about?

"We all miss her. But unlike you, she was our friend."

"She was my friend too!" Ryoma returned.

"Well yeah, but you wish she was more don't you?" Momo cocked an eyebrow at him.

Ryoma sighed. "Can we not talk about it?"

Momo shook his head. "No, we need to talk about it. It's not healthy to keep stuff like this bottled up." He smirked. "Now tell your best buddy here exactly what you're feeling, and he'll see what he can do."

**&&&**

Ryoma stared up at the ceiling from where he lay on his bed, thinking about his conversation with Momo earlier. What had his sempai said? Ryoma was already beginning to forget. That's what happens when there's too much on your mind.

"Ryoma! RYOMA!" Nanjiro yelled at his son. But Ryoma ignored him, getting up and grabbing his tennis bag from his room and heading toward the backyard. "I need to get out of here." He muttered.

**&&&**

Ryoma's POV

I picked up a tennis ball, threw it high up into the air, and swung my racket, watching the ball go zooming into the opposite court. Long. Way long. It's been like that the whole time, either I serve into the net or the shot is too long, or wide. I hadn't played this poorly since I was three.

I reached down into the tennis basket, grabbing another tennis ball with my numb fingers. It was cold as hell, and I could barely keep a hold on my racket--definitely too cold for tennis. But all the better to keep my mind on anything, anything but Tenaya.

I felt my heart clench painfully, as I swung at the ball, watching it hit the net with a 'thwack'.

It had been almost two weeks since she left…and I needed to move on. For her, it was over. But for me, I was still in love. Whoever said "absence makes the heart grow fonder" knew what he was talking about.

She had just walked into my life that one day, sitting down next to me in English class. Who would've known that she would probably change my life forever? Before we met, it had been tennis, tennis, tennis for me, every single day. It was the only thing I truly wanted.

I bounced another tennis ball, although completely focused on something else. One specific thought had been plaguing my mind for the past fortnight. The fact that what I had done, what I had chosen with my heart to do, had caused her pain. The very thought brought new waves of heart-break. If only I had kept my feelings to myself…maybe we would still be friends.

I tossed the ball into the air, high, and watched it sail upward into the gray, winter sky. My eyes misted as the ball reached its peak, beginning to drop. It became a green blur as I swung my racket, missing it so badly that the ball wasn't even in the court, never mind the service box. I dropped my racket, and heard it clack to the floor. I lowered my head, hiding my tears. Although I was alone, it now became a habit. At tennis practice, I could always feel everybody's eyes on me. But I didn't want their pity.

"Um…" A muffled voice came from the other side of the court, barely loud enough for me to hear.

I wiped my eyes, raising my head. I squinted at the figure in the distance that was slowly walking my way. It was a girl with medium-long hair, dressed in a thin, white blazer with a dark blue scarf wrapped around her neck and face, covering everything but her eyes. She was now standing at the baseline of the other side, exactly one tennis court away from me.

My eyes widened.

"…Tenaya?"

She just looked at me.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I just mistook you for somebody else I knew." I felt my hopes dying. "What do you want?"

The girl hesitated, before walking towards the net. Strangely, I felt compelled to do the same. Walking past my dropped racket and basket of tennis balls, I kept walking until I was in front of the net, and glanced at the face of the girl, now only a foot away from me. I felt my heart beat speed up, as I looked into a pair of familiar, grey eyes…

She lifted a trembling hand up to her scarf, pulling it down slowly until it was under her chin. My eyes widened.

"It's me."

Narrator's POV

"Tenaya…" Ryoma breathed. She looked almost exactly the same, except for the fact that she had cut her hair. It no longer hung down to the small of her back, but was layered to the top of her shoulder blades. He just stared at her, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him.

She looked into his deep-green eyes for a moment, and then down at her feet. "I…I know what you're probably thinking." She shifted nervously, starting to ramble. "I have no right to just come barging here unexpected, especially when I was supposed to be gone for good, but I just kinda missed this place you know? I know I should probably leave, seeing as how I'm really not supposed to be here, but-"

"Tenaya, it's okay, I'm not going to kick you out." He stepped over the net, and she moved back a little to make space. He took a deep breath, surprised at how painful it was to be near her again, knowing what he did now. He looked into her teary eyes. "But…could you please tell me why you're here?"

"I-" She wiped her eyes. "I needed to talk to you." She whispered.

Ryoma hesitated, then nodded.

She took a deep breath. "Two weeks ago, when you told me that you loved me at my house, I know I reacted pretty negatively. I threw it back into your face." A tear ran down her cheek. "I just wanted you to know that all of it? It was to save my own butt." She paused. "It was to save me the pain of having to leave the next day. I figured that if we found out about each other's feelings, the goodbye would have been twice as hard. I didn't want that." She shook her head. "I was an ignorant, selfish little bitch, I admit it. But the worst part was knowing afterward that all of my precautions just lead to more pain."

Ryoma frowned. "You were just telling me how you truly felt."

Tenaya looked up at him. "But don't you see! It was all a lie!" Tears now ran freely down her cheeks. "I was lying!" She said, her voice cracking. "Don't you understand? Ryoma, I'm in love with you!" She said, holding back a sob.

Upon hearing these words, he looked up at her, eyes widening slowly.

"I hid my feelings, wanting to protect myself! I told myself over and over that we were just friends, but the truth was that I had fallen in love with you! I had fallen for you, faster and harder than anything I was ready for…"

He looked at her tear-streaked face, and slowly raised a trembling hand up to her cheek. He touched her face lightly first, as if wanting to make sure she was really there. Then he placed his hand gently onto the side of her face, watching as she leaned into his touch.

Without thinking, he leaned down slowly, and gently placed his lips on hers. She froze for a second, before tentatively beginning to kiss him back. He moved his hand from her cheek to the back of her head, tangling his fingers into her now short hair. He then placed his other hand on her left cheek, reveling at how good it felt to finally feel her lips on his.

Tenaya, raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck, tears still running down her face as she returned his kiss.

They pulled apart, and he looked into her eyes. "I love you." He breathed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. He breathed in her warm, comforting scent of peaches, never wanting to let her go. She hugged him back. "I love you too. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"You're forgiven." He wiped away the tears on her face.

Tenaya smiled back, nestling her head into Ryoma's shoulder. "I'm so glad we met..."

"Me too."

"I wouldn't trade my memories of us for anything in the world." She sighed. "Remember when we first met? In English class? It feels like a billion years ago…"

They were both silent for a while, thinking back on everything they had gone through in the past few months. They knew that now, they'd be able to look back on all of this and be able to smile about it.

"Wanna play?" Ryoma suddenly said.

Tenaya looked up, surprised. "Now?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

She smirked, grabbing a racket from the side bench. "All right. But I'll kick your ass."

"Psh." He smiled. "I've gotten a lot better."

She laughed. "Bring it on."

"I'll win. Just watch." Ryoma said, grabbing a ball.

"No you won't." She waved at him impatiently. "Now serve already."

What she didn't know was that he already had. He smirked as he tossed the ball high up into the air, watching as it disappeared for a moment into the sun, before hitting it hard onto the other side. Perfect.

**&&&**

A/N: Finally. The last chapter is done! I don't want to sound like a whiny author again, but this chapter wasn't up to my expectations. For some reason, I can picture it in my head, but I can't get it into words. Sigh Oh well. I tried my best. I hope you all liked it.

Epilogue, coming up!


	20. Epilogue

A/N: Here's the requested epilogue. Somehow, it makes me so sad to write this…somebody tell me that it's normal. (By the way, this is really sappy, but that's how I like it )

Before I start, here are some readers that I'd like to thank:

invisible-gurl

Shells1

keia mizuki

White Alchemist Taya

typically azn gurl

keikeiaznqueen

sizza

**&&&**

Translate This

Epilogue

  
Narrator's POV

_Eight Years Later_

Tenaya, now twenty-two years old, spun around in her beautiful white dress, a grin plastered on her face.

"It's gorgeous." Joan breathed, taking a step forward to feel the material.

"Holy cow. Is this silk?"

Tenaya's grin widened. "Yep! 100! Can you believe it?" She looked down at the dress, made of silk so light and soft that she felt like she was wearing a cloud. "I bet this thing cost a fortune." She leaned down to pet Hikari who, now extremely old, was lying faithfully at her feet.

"You bet? You mean, you don't know?" Joan gaped. "What, sis, did you steal it or something?"

Tenaya laughed. "No, of course not. I just…didn't pay for it. Ryoma did. I insisted on paying for it, but he switched my credit card with his that morning." 

Joan smirked. "Sneaky little bugger."

Tenaya rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it."

"Hurry up Tenaya! There's so much to do and so little time!" Mrs. Rialles ran around frantically, grabbing hair products and makeup compacts.

Tenaya laughed, and stepped down from the podium where had been standing and grabbed her mother's hands, gently twirling her around happily. "Calm down Mom. We'll get it all done, don't worry."

Her mother smiled. "I know honey, I just like to worry, you know me. Now Joan, get out of here! You can't see the bride until after she's ready."

**&&&**

"Ryoma, you need to calm…down." Fuji said slowly, trying to smooth out Ryoma's frazzled nerves. "You're freaking out."

"I know! I know, but I can't help it!" Ryoma said frantically, adjusting and readjusting his tie. "There's only ten minutes to go!"

Mrs. Echizen smiled. "You're messing up your hair dear. Come here."

"Mom, I'm twenty-three, I can do my own hair." Ryoma replied, annoyed, but he didn't complain as his mother started running a comb through his hair again.

"I can't believe how nervous I am." Ryoma said, biting his lip. "The US OPEN is nothing compared to this!"

Fuji smiled his knowing smile. "Well, unlike the US OPEN…this only happens once in your whole, entire lifetime."

Ryoma blanched.

Fuji laughed. "You'll do fine, you look great, every thing's going according to plan, I'm sure Tenaya looks beautiful—"

"Tenaya!" Ryoma gasped.

"Hold still dear, I'm almost done." Mrs. Echizen said, running some gel through his dark locks.

"I haven't even seen her in her dress yet! Done yet Mom?"

"Yep!"

"Good." Ryoma said, turning to walk out the door.

"Hold on." Nanjiro said from where he was sitting in the corner, reading his 'newspaper'. "You know it's bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony."

Ryoma made a face. "Dad, I know. But…."

Nanjiro lowered the newspaper to smirk at his son. "Like Fuji said, I'm sure she looks beautiful."

Ryoma sat down, sighing.

Fuji stood up himself, brushing off his tux. "Speaking of me, I think I'll go see how Tenaya's preparations are coming along."

"That's a great idea!" Ryoma said, suddenly excited. "You're her best friend, I'm sure she won't mind!"

Fuji just smiled.

"Yeah!" Ryoma stood up. "Go see her and tell me how she looks."

Fuji laughed, walking towards the door. "Yeah right, I'm not telling you anything. You'll find out for yourself."

Ryoma crossed his arms. "That's not fair."

"Oh well, you'll get over it." Fuji shrugged. "Now I'm off to see Tenaya!"

Ryoma sighed, and sat down once again, flicking a piece of lint off his pants.

Nanjiro flipped a page in his newspaper. "Stop fidgeting kid."

Ryoma rolled his eyes. "You're helpful as always."

"I know." His father sighed happily, smiling widely. "Where would you be without me?"

**&&&**

"Ah!" Tenaya gasped lightly as a pair of hands covered her eyes. She stood there for a second, pretending to think. "Fuji!" She said happily.

"Darn. How do you do that?" Fuji laughed, lowering his hands as Tenaya turned around to smile at him.

"I can recognize your hands. And plus, who else comes to see his best friend in her wedding gown to offer consolation five minutes before she's about to get married?" Tenaya beamed, wrapping Fuji in a bear hug.

Fuji laughed, hugging her back just as tightly. "That's freakishly specific. And accurate."

Tenaya pulled away from him to smile. "C'mon, after ten years of being your best friend, anything short of being able to read your mind would be embarrassing."

Fuji's smile widened, as he leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead. "So how are you feeling, Miss bride-to-be?" He said.

"Excited!" Tenaya's eyes sparkled as if to emphasize her point. She laughed as she spun around the room, her dress twirling gently around her ankles. "I can't even put this feeling into words! Just wait until you get married, Fuji, you'll know what I'm talking about."

"If I get married that is."

"Oh stop, of course you'll get married, you're like, the perfect guy. Women fall at your feet wherever you go." She joked.

Fuji laughed. "Not quite."

"Close enough."

"So…nervous at all?" Fuji cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Not one bit."

"Well that makes one of us." Fuji said, sighing.

"Men. What's there to be nervous about?"

"Well, to start with, I could trip on the way to the podium and land on my face. Or Ryoma could accidentally run into the pianist, making him mess up. Or perhaps I could knock over the cake onto your mother or—"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Tenaya laughed. "You'll both do fine, stop worrying and try to enjoy it."

"TENAYA!" Mrs. Rialles yelled from the back room. "It's time! Hurry!" She rushed into the room frantically, but with a smile on her face, holding the beautifully delicate veil that matched Tenaya's dress.

She smiled, and then turned towards Fuji. "I gotta finish up! Now go!" She said, shooing him out.

Fuji smiled back. "Okay fine." He said, running off in the other direction. "See you soon!" He said, waving.

Tenaya rushed back towards her mother, who tearfully placed the veil on her head, its sheer material gently falling over her face.

"I love you Tenaya." Her mother whispered.

Tenaya's eyes teared up as well. "I love you too Mom."

They stood there for a few moments, staring at each other with misty eyes.

"Now go!" Mrs. Rialles said, gently pushing her daughter forward.

Tenaya nodded, and picked up the hem of her dress, trying to quietly run towards the back of the aisle way. There she met Carter, who was walking her up the aisle since she had no father.

"Hey little sis." Carter beamed, looking great in his tuxedo. "Ready?"

Tenaya shivered in excitement, wrapping an arm around her brother's elbow. "Ready."

The curtain lifted in front of them, and Tenaya glanced around at the faces beaming back at her in the crowd. They all gasped as she stepped forward into the sun, it's light bouncing off the crystals on her dress and creating a soft, rainbow of lights. The ceremony was placed outside, in a small park, with only about a hundred of the couple's closest friends and family. Joan was her maid of honor, and Fuji was the best man. Surprisingly, Sakuno and Tomo were the bridesmaids, along with Nikki and a few other friends, for they had become a lot closer to Tenaya in the past few years. And of course, Kikumaru, Momo, Tezuka, Takashi, Oishi, Kaido, and Inui were the groomsmen.

It had been the wedding Tenaya had always hoped for. A place where she could be with the most important people in her life all at once, to celebrate something that she had been dreaming of for what seemed like forever. A place where she could feel the wind's soft caress on her cheek as she walked towards the man she loved.

She kept her face down, mostly to hide the grin that was plastered onto her face, as she walked up to the aisle, not to the traditional wedding song, but a piano piece she had comprised herself. It had a beautiful melody, with an accompaniment of soft flute in the background. Reaching the end of the aisle, Carter leg go of her and gave her a hug, and she kissed his cheek in return. And as she ascended the stairs, a tear slipped down her cheek, before being hastily wiped away. For at last, it seemed like all the loose ends of their lives were being tied together in this final knot, and that through thick and thin, she had come out as the happiest woman alive.

**&&&**

Ryoma's heart stopped as Tenaya stepped out into the beautiful late-May sunlight, looking like an angel. He had made it up to her to decide what wedding dress she wanted, and he was amazed at her decision. It was crystal white, strapless, and beautifully simple. The top edge of the dress was adorned with delicate lace flowers, sakura flowers, with centers of crystal. The amount of crystal flowers on the dress lessened as it went downward, as if fading away, so that the bottom of the dress was plain, shining, white silk. The veil on her head was made of similar material, except for the fact that the silk was a lot thinner, therefore exposing her beautiful face just a little. The crown that went in her hair was a simple white headband, adorned with a few pale blue crystals. Her hair had been piled on top of her head, with a single crystal sakura flower pinned on the side, and a few strands of hair hanging down gently to frame her face.

The result was breath taking. He marveled at how porcelain smooth her skin was, and how the dress beautifully showed off her perfect figure, without exposing too much. At the moment, Ryoma felt like the luckiest man alive.

Tenaya carefully stepped up onto the podium, and walked up to stand before Ryoma, before raising her head slowly. She could barely keep herself from gasping out loud. Although not as fancy as Tenaya, Ryoma still looked incredible. She didn't see him in a tux often, and she made a mental note to try and make him wear them more. He was wearing a simple black tuxedo, with a forest green tie (her idea, to bring out his eyes more). She looked at his beautiful face, mesmerized. His mom had done a good job with his hair, putting just enough gel in it. He had the exact same hairstyle as he did in high school, except his hair was now a little longer, framing his face to a spot just above his jaw line, with a few strands hanging into his face. His forest green eyes were compelling, making her breath catch in her throat.

Every time they were together, they were reminded of just how much they loved each other. Throughout their eight years of being together, Ryoma would sometimes be feeling down, which then gave him a sense of insecurity and a lack of trust. These were just phases, and Tenaya learned to nullify them with a warm voice and gentle words. He would say that he wasn't good enough for her. He would look at her with those pain filled eyes, and ask why she hadn't moved on. And she would always respond in the exact same way—she would wrap her arms around him and hold him close, kissing away his tears. Then she would whisper in his ear that it was she who would thank God for everyday that he was still in her life. She would tell him that she used to think he was a blessing that would have to be taken away eventually. This always restored his hopes, and he would tell her that he would never leave her side. She would then smile, and say the same.

With these thoughts running through their head as they looked at each other  
with loving eyes, they bowed. They had decided, instead of having a priest recite vows, they would write and recite their own. So, with Tenaya being first, she took out the small slip of paper on which her vows were written, and eyes trained on the paper, she opened her mouth to begin.

"Ryoma. Each day that I face, I look forward to spending it with you. You are the foundation for my world when it wants to crash down. You are the light in my life when there seems to be nothing but rain, and you are my shoulder for crying on. I love you for who you are, a sweet, passionate man who, although secluded on the outside, never misses the chance to tell me "I love you". And I love you for who you make me, a caring, considerate woman who would do anything to keep you content. I love you because my heart is only ever happy when I'm with you. You are my ticket to happiness, and I promise to never let you go. Forever and always, I'll be your biggest fan. I can't wait to wake up each day with you by my side."

Tenaya finished, and looked up at Ryoma, whose eyes were tearing up with happiness. She took the wedding band that they had picked out, and slid it onto his ring finger carefully. He looked at it and smiled, picking up his own paper slip of vows. He had worked extra hard on them, being the type of person who didn't exactly have a way with words.

"Tenaya. Every time I am feeling lonely and abandoned, I remember you, and my uncertainties disappear. I have learned through you that there are people in this world whom you would be willing to give your life to without a second thought. Through all of our hardships, you never once walked away, and I love you for believing in me like you do. You are the one who keeps my ambitions, my hopes, my dreams alive. You, with your loving arms, keep me from running away, and with you in my life, I am given the strength to face my fears. You are my joy, my love, my world. I believe that my happiness lies in your hands to do with as you will, and I love you because you've only ever handled it with the ultimate care. You, Tenaya, you are my happily ever after."

Silence overtook the crowd as Ryoma finished, placing Tenaya's wedding ring onto her ring finger. A tear ran down Tenaya's cheek as he looked up to meet her gaze. Everybody there, including all of the groomsmen, had tears in their eyes, for they had never witnessed something so pure, so wholesome as what they felt for each other.

Even Nanjiro, who was their priest today, couldn't help but shed a few tears. But he quickly wiped them away, as he stepped onto the podium behind them.

"Do you, Tenaya Rialles, take this man to be your lawfully wedded  
husband?" 

"I do." She said, smiling gently.

"And do you, Ryoma Echizen, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." Ryoma replied, smiling back.

"Then I pronounce you…husband and wife." He said, eyes tearing again.

A roaring applause overtook the ceremony as the crowd stood up in a standing ovation. They were so loud that the last part of Nanjiro's speech could barely be heard.

"You may kiss the bride."

But Tenaya and Ryoma could hear nothing, for they were in their own world as Ryoma gently lifted up her wedding veil. He stared breathlessly into her sparkling gray eyes, marveling at how gorgeous she really was. He leaned in towards those perfectly shaped lips, locking them with his in a short moment that, to them, seemed to extend until forever.

There were a match made in heaven, and they knew it. They knew how lucky they were, for not many people in this world find their one true soul mate. Their eight years together had taught them, more than anything else, that to love another person like they loved each other was the greatest gift of all. Somehow, knowing this made everything seem worth it.

**&&&**

It was now dusk, and all of the guests had left. Only Tenaya, Ryoma, Fuji, and the groomsmen were left. Inui, Takashi, Tezuka, and Oishi were chatting, and Kaido, Kikumaru and Momo were eating cake. Ryoma was talking with Sakuno and Tomo, who were offering their congratulations, and Tenaya had sat down on the edge of the water fountain next to Fuji.

She looked down at the simple but beautiful band on her finger. Engraved in tiny writing on the inside of both of their rings, barely visible, were the words 'My life began when I found you.'

"I'm married. Can you believe it?" Tenaya sighed happily.

"Yes." He said, admiring her ring with her. "And I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks Fuji." She said quietly. "I never would have made it without you."

Fuji laughed. "So I'm that important huh?" He joked.

She smirked. "Nah, I only said that to be polite."

Fuji stuck out his lower lip in mock sadness.

Tenaya laughed, hugging Fuji suddenly, almost knocking them both into the fountain. "I'm just kidding. You know I love you...You're the best friend a girl could ever ask for."

"And you're the best friend a guy could ask for. And I love you too." He said, placing his forehead against hers. "I know you'll be busy, now that you're married, but promise to call me every once in a while?" Fuji asked.

"As much as you like." Tenaya beamed. "And you can call me or visit me whenever you want, I'm always here if you want to talk."

"Really? Wouldn't that annoy Ryoma?" Fuji cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Hmph." Tenaya smirked. "He'll get used to it."

They laughed together, and pulled away from each other.

"Friends forever?" Tenaya asked, sticking out her pinky.

Fuji smiled, and pinky-promised her. "You bet. Oh, here comes Ryoma." He stood up and winked. "I'll let you two have some alone time."

Tenaya smiled. "Thanks." Then she looked over at Ryoma, looking handsome in his tux as he walked her way. "Ryoma." She said, smiling.

Ryoma smiled back, feeling his heart swell with happiness as he watched her grey eyes sparkle as she said his name. The way they did with no one else. "Hi Tenaya. How are you feeling?"

Tenaya smiled up at him from where she sat. "Tired, but happy. Who knew planning a wedding was so tiresome?" She said, trying to suppress a yawn but failing.

Ryoma laughed, extending out a hand. She grabbed it, pulling herself up, and intertwined her fingers with his as they started walking.

"We made it…" Ryoma whispered.

"Yeah…through everything." Tenaya replied. 

He pushed his bangs out of his eyes and turned to look at her. "Can you believe it's been eight years?"

Tenaya shook her head. "Nope. We've been together for so long…"

"And I've loved every single day of it." Ryoma smirked.

"Me too." She said, smiling.

They sat down on the grass, and then lay on their backs, staring up at the sky together.

"What do you think would have happened," Tenaya began. "If my mom hadn't let me come back to Japan? What if the last time we ever spoke to each other was that time you said goodbye to me at the airport?"

Ryoma was silent for a few moments before shuddering. "I don't even want to think about it."

She laughed, getting up and placing her hands on the grass on either side of him, looking down into his beautiful, shining green eyes. "So," She smiled. "Think you can bring home your tenth grand slam? Wimbledon is in a month."

"As long as you're cheering for me." He looked up at her, grinning.

She smirked. "With binoculars, an autograph book, and my Sharpie!"

He rolled his eyes. "Crazy fan girl."

She laughed, collapsing on top of him. "Your crazy fan girl."

She leaned down to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Well what about you?" Ryoma said.

"What about me?"

"You're competing too."

"Yep! If I win first place, it'll be my twelfth grand slam. And I'm a year younger than you." She said teasingly.

He muttered. "Always one to point out that you have more grand slams than I do."

"Of course." She laughed. "Gotta keep the husband in check right? Don't worry, you'll be as good as me someday." She smirked.

He leaned up and kissed her on the lips. "Don't get too cocky."

She rolled her eyes. "Look who's talking, Mr. My-ego-is-bigger-than-my-head."

He laughed along with her at this. "You know what I've noticed?"

"Yeah?" Tenaya said quizzically.

"I've noticed that most couples that both play pro tennis meet through tennis right? And that most of the time, their tennis careers tear them apart. But us? We didn't meet through tennis, and it only brings us closer."

"You're right." Tenaya said. "And our career only promotes healthy competition."

"Yep. Without it, we'd turn into a pair of sickenly sweet romantics."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You mean we aren't?"

He laughed. "Okay, well we're a pair of athletic sickenly sweet romantics."

"With too much money and no where to spend it." Tenaya finished.

They laughed, and she leaned down to kiss him again. "I love you." She said against his lips, and he responded by smiling into their kiss and pulling her closer. "I love you too." He whispered, holding her as she lay there, her head on his chest, listening to the beating of his heart.

"You know what I feel like doing?" Tenaya said suddenly, looking up.

"What?" Ryoma said.

"Guess." She smirked.

"Play tennis?" He asked, although he already knew that he was right.

"Yeah!" She jumped up off of him.

"Now?" He said, getting up.

"Uh-huh! I've never played in a wedding dress, and I'll probably never get another chance to. And I bet you've never played in a tux."

"That's because I can't." He pointed out.

"Excuses, excuses. You're just afraid you're gonna get your butt kicked." Tenaya crossed her arms.

"Ha, yeah right! You're the one playing in high heels."

"So?" She said, running towards the fountain. "C'mon. We'll play doubles with Fuji and Kikumaru!"

Ryoma sighed, and then smiled, following after his wife as she ran towards the others, announcing the match. They all looked at her as if she was crazy for a while, before shaking their heads and laughing. Fuji, Kikumaru, Tenaya, and Ryoma grabbed their stuff, with Tenaya and Ryoma leading the away across the lawn to the tennis courts and Kikumaru and Fuji behind them. The rest of them followed suit, waiting to watch the match.

Tenaya and Ryoma walked slowly in the front, hand in hand. She sighed happily, looking up at the exquisite sunset before them. "So this is happiness?"

He smiled his charming smile as he turned to look at her, and kissed the back of her hand gently. "Happiness, is when I'm with you."

They looked at each other and smiled as the rest of their friends chattered contentedly behind them.

"Then I look forward to spending the rest of my life like this."

_Translate This._

_The End._

**&&&**

A/N: Finally, it's finished! I'm really happy with the epilogue actually. I hope you guys liked it too. This story was such a big part of my life, that now that it's finished, it feels like I'm incomplete. Like something's missing. It's not a very happy feeling...oh well. Do any of you guys who write fanfics feel like this too? If so, then that makes me feel a little better.

**IMPORTANT! **If you liked "Translate This", then please keep a look-out for my next story "Forget Me Not" (unless I decide to change the title). It's not exactly a sequel to Translate This, but it takes place almost right after this epilogue. Although instead of Tenaya and Ryoma as the main characters, the story focuses mainly on Fuji. Tenaya and Ryoma will be making appearances in the story though. Pairings are TenayaXRyoma and FujiXOC.

Again, a BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY who read my story and enjoyed it. I couldn't have done it without your guys' support. And for those of you who review after I've stopped updating, don't worry, I still check my story reviews and reply to them. I read each and every review at least a few times. (Yes I get that bored). So please continue to leave reviews!


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